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 LIBERTY AND PROSI^ERITY 
 
 OF N 
 
 ^3. 
 
 \ 
 
 A STUDY OF SOCIAL ECONOMY 
 
 Bv EMILE DE LAVELEYE, . 
 
 Member of tlie " histiiut de Urnit liiteniatioiKil,'' nftlic Royal Academic^ of I'.elgiiiiii, Madrid, 
 and Lislion; Correspondent <>f the " Iiislit\U de France," Academy OFficei 
 - of the University of France, Sic. 
 
 ■■ • t'. 
 
 .■•/' 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER, 
 
 Bv THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE M.V 
 
 'l^ORONTO: 
 
 BELFORD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 1S76 
 
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NEARLY READY. 
 
 THE 
 
 NEW POEMS 
 
 OF 
 
 JEAN INGELOW,J.G. WHITTIER, 
 H. W. LONGFELLOW. 
 
 1 Vol., 8vo., Cloth elegant, $1.00, full gilt $1.25. 
 
 This volume contains " The Shepherd Lady " and other 
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 •' The Masque of Pandora '' and other poems, by H. W. Longfellow. 
 
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 One " — charmed thousands of readers in the pages of Harper s 
 Monthly. We know not a sweeter poem in the language than 
 " Like a Laverock in the Lift," — a simple, yet touching, drama, 
 whose homely words and easy cadence bring tears to the eyes." — 
 Boston Literary World. 
 
 " Mabel Martin." — "It is a .simple, tender, lovely idyl.' — 
 Neiv York Tribune. 
 
 " No reader, endowed with a sense of the beautiful and grace- 
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 " The Masque of Pandora and other Poems. — There is 
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 melancholy, — that belongs only to this poet, and could belong to 
 him perfectly only in the fullness of age." — Scribners Monthly. 
 
 " ' Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear,' writes Mr. 
 I^ongfellow ; and this rich and varied yield of his genius is a con- 
 vincing proof that as a poet he must still be regarded as in his 
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 " Beside the poems we have analysed, there remain some 
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 tender, and true." — London Academy, 
 
 BELFOED BBOS., Fnblisliers, Toronto- 
 

 |3i*ot£0tanti5nt anb Catliolicbm 
 
 IN TII£IIl nEAIlIKG UPON THR 
 
 LIBERTY AND PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 
 
 A STUDY OF SOCIAL IXONOMY. 
 
 By EMILE DE LAVELEYE, 
 
 MKMFER or TUB " INSTITI T DR DROIT INTKRKATIONAl.," OF THK ROYAL ACADBMIR8 OF 
 
 BELGIUM, MADRID, A:«D LISBON; 
 rORRF,SPONDBNT OF TIIK " INSTITIT DK FRANCE;" 
 "OFFICIER D'ACADEMlr" OF THE VNIVERRITY OK FRANCE. ETC 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER 
 
 BY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.R 
 
 Taraato : 
 
 BELFORD BROS., PUBLISHERS. 
 
 1876. 
 
TORONTO: 
 
 Bii.L & Co., printhrs, 13 Adhlaidb St. Hast. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAoa 
 
 Introductory Letter from Mr. Gladstone 5-8 
 
 The progress of the Latin nations less rapid, in conse- 
 quence not of race but of creed. The Cathohcs 
 generally less industrious and less prosperous than 
 the Protestants. Causes of this 9-16 
 
 The Reformation has given an extraordinary force to 
 
 the nations who have embraced it 16-17 
 
 CathoHc nations torn by intestine dissensions which 
 
 retard their progress 1 7-2 1 
 
 Education and science the sources of wealth and 
 
 liberty 21 
 
 Knowledge less diffused among Catholic than among 
 
 Protestant nations 23-24 
 
 Morality the basis of order and liberty. Higher 
 
 morality of Protestant than of Catholic nations.. 24-25 
 
 Rehgious Protestants the natural allies of Liberty. 
 
 Religious Catholics the natural allies of Despotism. 26 
 
 Among Catholic nations the highest motive is the 
 sentiment of Honour ; among Protestant nations, 
 Duty or Religious belief, 27-30 
 
 Free and representative g'^vernment the logical con- 
 sequences of Protestantism. Absolute government 
 the ideal of Catholicism 33-35 
 
 The Protestants in France sought to establish a free 
 representative federal constitution. Liberty per- 
 ished with them 36-40 
 
 Wherever the Calvinists were victorious, they founded 
 
 free, Republican, and Constitutional government... 41-47 
 
 A sovereign who is a good Catholic cannot be a good 
 
 constitutional sovereign ,,,, , 47-48 
 
IV. CONTENTS. 
 
 PAQI. 
 
 The religious sentiment less lively among the well- 
 educated classes in Catholic than in Protestant 
 countries, because Catholicism does not meet the 
 wants of modern humanity. 48- 5 1 
 
 Scepticism and unbelief do not emancipate nations 
 
 from the dominion of Rome 5i~53 
 
 In support of liberty it becomes necessary, in Catholic 
 countries, to resist the priests. Religion and mor- 
 ality are thus sapped, and liberty becomes anarchy 54-58 
 
 The new Ultramontane movement puts in peril the 
 
 peace of Europe and the future of Catholic nations 59-60 
 
 Letter to the Editor ok the "Times" on the 
 
 Power of the Romish Church in Belgium.. . 60-64 
 
PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 My Dear M. de Laveleye, 
 
 I thank you for your prompt assent to my request 
 that your Tract on the relations of Reformed and 
 unreformed Christianity respectively, in the West of 
 Europe, to the liberty and prosperity of nations, might 
 be translated into English. 
 
 I need hardly say to any, least of all to you, that 
 this request did not imply adoption of your precise 
 point of view, or of each of your opinions in detail. 
 You have not, I believe, been governed by theological 
 partialities in the judgment at which you have arrived ; 
 nor have I, in the desire to give currency in this country 
 to a Tract which includes your rather unfavourable 
 estimate of its Church in comparison with the other Re- 
 formed Communions. But I have felt that desire very 
 Strongly, because, within a compass wonderfully brief. 
 
6 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 you have initiated in a very vivid manner, and have 
 even advanced to a certain point, the discussion of a 
 question which heretofore can hardly be said to have 
 been presented to the public mind, and which it seems 
 to me high time to examine. That question is, whether 
 experience has now suppUed data sufficient for a trust- 
 worthy comparison of results, in the several spheres of 
 political liberty, social advancement, mental Intelli- 
 gence, and general morality, between the Church of 
 Rome on the one hand, and the religious communities 
 cast off by or separated from her on the other. 
 
 Mr. Hallam stated, many years ago, the difficulty of 
 arriving at a conclusion on the ethical section of this 
 question : but much, which in his day remained 
 obscure, has been considerably elucidated by recent 
 experience. And I trust that the brief but significant 
 and weighty indications of your pamphlet, especially 
 if they should not be followed by a fuller treatment 
 from your own pen, may turn the thoughts of other 
 students of history and observers of life to a thorough 
 examination of this wide and most fruitful field. 
 
 There are other features in your mode of handling 
 the case, from which England in particular may derive 
 
TRKFATORY LETTER. f 
 
 much instruction. With reference to the political and 
 social fruits of rcH<,non, we have been accustomed to 
 regard Beli^ium as the one choice [garden of the Roman 
 Church : and it has afforded a ready answer to many 
 who entertained strong suspicion of her workings. It 
 will be well for us to have a few words on this subject 
 from a Belgian of known liberality and tolerance, who 
 knows what, and under what difficulties, the wisdom of 
 two successive kings has done for Belgium ; and who is 
 too acute either to undervalue the power and fixed in- 
 tentions of the Ultramontane conspiracy, or to find 
 comfort in the visionary notion that any security is 
 afforded to European society against that conspiracy 
 by any system of mere negations in religion. This last- 
 named error is widely prevalent in England. There 
 is an impression, which is not worthy to be called a 
 conviction, but which holds the place of one, that the 
 indifferentism, scepticism, materialism, and pantheism 
 which for the moment are so fashionable, afford, among 
 them, an effectual defence against Vaticanism. But 
 one has truly said that the votaries of that system have 
 three elements of real strength, namely, faith, self- 
 sacrifice, and the spirit of continuity. None of the 
 three are to be found in any of the negative systems ; 
 
8 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 and you have justly and forcibly pointed out that these 
 systems, through the feelings of repugnance and alarm 
 which they excite in many religious minds, are effec- 
 tual allies of the Romanism of the day. The Roman- 
 ism of the day in a measure repays its obligation, by 
 making its censure of these evils sincere no doubt, but 
 only light and rare in comparison with the anathemas 
 which it bestows upon liberty and its guarantees, most 
 of all when any tendency to claim them is detected 
 within its own precinct. 
 
 I remain, my dear M. de Laveleye, 
 
 Most faithfully yours, 
 
 W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 London : 23 Carlton House Terrace. 
 
PROTESTANTISM AND CATHOLICISM 
 
 ■ IN THEIR BEARING UPdN 
 
 THE LIBERTY AND PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 
 
 A STUDY OF SOCIAL ECONOMY. 
 
 T. 
 
 We hear much at the present day of the decay of the 
 Latin races. It is said that they decline rapidly, and 
 that the future belongs both to the Germanic and to 
 the Slavonic race. 
 
 I do not believe that the Latin races are condemned 
 to decline on account of the blood which flows in their 
 veins, that is to say, in consequence of any fatal des- 
 tiny, fatal, as no people can change its nature or 
 modify it physical constitution ; but the fact that 
 Catholic races advance much less rapidly than those 
 which are no longer Catholic, and that, relatively to 
 these latter, they even seem to go back, appears 
 to be prov^ed both by history, and more particularly 
 by contemporary events. This fact is so manifest, 
 that the very bishops themselves, and the Univers^ 
 their organ in France, make it a text of their re- 
 proaches to unbelieving Catholics. ^ 
 
 Different reasons prevent my attributing this unde- 
 niable fact to influences of race. Undoubtedly, the 
 
10 RESULTvS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 fate of nations depends partly on their physical con- 
 stitution. Even if we turn back to the origin of 
 things, two causes only can be found capable of 
 explaining the different destinies of various nations, 
 viz., race, and surrounding circumstances ; — on the 
 one hand, the constitution of man, on the other, the 
 influence of external nature — the climate, the geo- 
 graphical position, the products of the soil, the aspect 
 of the country, the food. But in point of fact, when 
 the question relates to nations of such mixed blood as 
 that of Europeans, who, moreover, descend from a 
 common stock, it is very difficult to connect the social 
 conditions with the influence of race with any degree 
 of scientific certainty. 
 
 The English understand the parliamentary system 
 
 and the exercise of practical liberty better than the 
 
 French. Is this owing to the influence of blood } I 
 
 do not think so ; for until near the sixteenth century, 
 
 France, Spain, and Italy possessed provincial liberties 
 
 of a very similar character to English liberties. The 
 
 only notable difference was, that the English had a 
 
 single parliament, and a centralised system, which 
 
 ^ved strong enough to hold its own against royalty 
 
 \onnan Conquest having united England, a 
 
 'rliament was the result ; and royalty being 
 
 -V ^ul, rtobles and commons, combined to 
 
 IS elsewhere they were constantly at 
 str* 
 
 Tht '-ance and England only become 
 
 entirely c '>e beginning of the sixteenth 
 
 century, wh^ ^s had defeated the Stuarts, 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. II 
 
 and when Louis XIV., by expelling the Protestants 
 from France, had extirpated the last remnants of 
 local autonomy, and the sole important elements of 
 resistance, with which despotism might have been 
 opposed. 
 
 When Protestants of Latin race are seen to rise 
 superior to Germanic but Catholic populations ; when 
 in one and the same country, and one and the same 
 group, identical in language and identical in origin, it 
 can be affirmed that Protestants advance more rapidly 
 and steadily than Catholics, it is difficult not to attri- 
 bute the superiority of the one over the other to the 
 religion they profess. 
 
 Sectarian passions or anti-religious prejudice have 
 been too often imported into the study of these ques- 
 tions. It is time that we should apply to it the 
 method of observation and the scientific impartiality 
 of the physiologist and the naturalist. When the 
 facts are once established, irrefragable conclusions 
 will follow. 
 
 It is admitted that the Scotch and Irish are of the 
 same origin. Both have become subject to the Eng- 
 lish yoke. Until the sixteenth century Ireland was 
 much more civilised than Scotland. During the first 
 part of the Middle Ages the Emerald Isle was a focus 
 of civilisation, while Scotland was still a den of bar- 
 barians. 
 
 Since the Scotch have embraced the reformed 
 religion, they have outrun even the English. The cli- 
 mate and the nature of the soil prevent Scotland being 
 as rich as England ; but Macaulay proves that, since 
 
12 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 the seventeenth century, the Scotch have in every way 
 surpassed the English. Ireland, on the other hand, 
 devoted to Ultramontanism, is poor, miserable, agi- 
 tated by the spirit of rebellion, and seenis incapable 
 of raising herself by her own strength. 
 
 What a contrast, even 'n Ireland, between the ex- 
 clusively Catholic Connaught, and Ulster, where Pro- 
 testantism prevails ! 
 
 Ulster is enriched by industry, Connaught presents 
 a picture of desolation. 
 
 I will not allow myself to establish any comparison 
 between the United States and the States of South 
 America, or between the nations of the North and 
 those of the South of Europe. The differences which 
 are to be observed might be explained by the influ- 
 ence of climate or of race. But let us go to Switzer- 
 land, and compare the condition of the Cantons of 
 Neuchatel, Vaud and Geneva (more particularly 
 before the recent immigration of the Savoy Catholics), 
 with that of Lucerne, Haut-Valais and the forest Can- 
 tons. The former are extraordinarily in advance of 
 the latter in respect of education, literature, the fine 
 arts, industry, commerce, riches, cleanliness ; in a 
 word, civilisation in all its aspects and in all its senses. 
 
 The first are Latin, but Protestant ; the second 
 German, but subject to Rome. Surely it is religion, 
 and not race, which is the cause of the superiority of 
 the former. 
 
 Let us now turn to a single Canton, that of Ap- 
 penzell, inhabited throughout by an entirely identical 
 Germanic population. The very same contrast pre- 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 1 3 
 
 sents itself between the Catholic " Rhodes intcrieures" 
 and the Protestant " Rhodes exterieures," as exists 
 between the inhabitants of Neuchatel and those of 
 Lucerne or Uri. On the one hand, education, 
 activity, industry, relations with the outer world, and 
 by necessary consequence, wealth. On the other, 
 inertia, routine, ignorance and poverty.* 
 
 ^ See Mr. Hepvvorth Dixon, whose judgment is certainly un- 
 influenced by any sectarian prejudice. He says in his recent 
 book on Switzerland : " A Liberal puts an Evanj^elical district 
 in the scale against a Catholic district -such as Appenzell-outer- 
 Rhoden against Appenzell-inner-Rhoden -and demands a ver- 
 dict on the evidence of eye and ear. 
 
 " In outer aspect these half-cantons have the differences of 
 Canton Berne and Canton Valais. In the lower country, though 
 the village may be built of frames, the style is pretty, the 
 arrangement neat. A fountain and a running water occupy the 
 centre. Near it stand the village church, the council-chamber, 
 and the primary school. Each cottage has a garden to itself. 
 A creeper climbs up every stair and hangs from almost every 
 roof. The click and whirr of looms are heard from every open 
 window, and the little folk go singing on their way to school. 
 The streets are clean, the markets well supplied, and every one 
 you meet is warmly clad. But in the upper country things look 
 poor and bare. Few villages are seen. The people dwell in 
 scattered huts, with styes and stables on the ground, and sleep- 
 ing rooms above them, hke the folks in Biscay or Navarre. 
 These huts, though strongly knit, are rudely planned and 
 roughly built. Each herdsman lives apart from all his fellows, 
 whom he only meets at mass, at wrestling-match, and public 
 house. The lads can read and write, for they are Switzers, sub- 
 ject to the Cantonal law ; but books and journals are unknown 
 among them, saving here and there some lives of saints, and 
 
14 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 Wherever the two religions exist together in the 
 same country, the Protestants are more active, more 
 industrious, more economical, and consequently richer, 
 than the Catholics. 
 
 " In the United States," says Tocqueville, " the 
 greater part of the Catholics are poor." 
 
 In Canada, all important concerns, manufactures, 
 commerce, and the principal shops in the towns, are 
 in the hands of Protestants. 
 
 M. Audiganne, in his remarkable studies on "the 
 working classes of France," observes the superiority of 
 Protestants in industrial enterprise, and his evidence 
 is the more trustworthy that he does not attribute this 
 superiority to Protestantism. " The majority of the 
 operatives of the town of Nismes," he says, *' notably 
 the silk weavers, are Catholics, while the leaders of 
 industry and commerce, in a word the capitalists, 
 belong in general to the reformed religion." 
 
 popular sheets, containing scraps of old wives' lore in place of 
 general and exciting news. 
 
 "The Protestant half-canton grows in wealth and numbers, 
 while the Catholic half-canton lingers on in poverty and weak- 
 ness : for the first takes in all strangers, irrespective of their 
 creed, gives ready welcome to ideas on all subjects, and adopts 
 without delay improvements in the loom, her chief domestic 
 engine ; while the second shuts her gates to all the world — on 
 Protestants of every country and on Catholics who are not 
 natives of the Canton — keeps her antique sports and dress, re- 
 tains her shepherd industries as they existed in the Middle Ages, 
 keeps her feast-days and her wrestling-matches, feeds on coarse 
 rye-bread and acid curds, and holds in proud contempt the art s 
 by which her neighbours thrive," 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 1 5 
 
 " When a single family has divided itself into two 
 branches, the one remaining in the bosom of its 
 ancestral faith, the other enrolling itself under the 
 banner of the new doctrines, you may nearly always 
 remark in the one case increasing embarrassments, 
 in the other, growing wealth." "At Mazamet, the 
 Elboeuf of the south of France," says again M. Audi- 
 ganne, " all the leaders of industry, except one, arc 
 Protestants, while the great majority of workmen are 
 Catholic. There is less education among these latter 
 than among the working families of the Protestant 
 
 class." 
 
 Before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the 
 Protestants took the lead in all branches of labour, 
 and the Catholics, unable to compete with them on 
 equal terms, caused them to be forbidden the exercise 
 of various industries in which they excelled, by several 
 successive edicts, dating from 1662. After their banish- 
 ment from France, the Protestants brought into 
 England, Prussia, and Holland their spirit of enter- 
 prise and thrift, and enriched every district in which 
 they settled. It is partly to reformed Latins that the 
 Germans owe their progress. The refugees of the 
 Revocation introduced various manufactures into 
 England, that of silk among others; and the disciples 
 of Calvin were the civilisers of Scotland. 
 
 If we compare the quotations on the Exchange of 
 the public funds of Protestant and Catholics States, 
 we shall find a great difference. The English 3 per 
 cents, are above 92 ; the French 3 per cents, average 
 60. The Dutch, Prussian, Danish, and Swedish funds 
 
1 6 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 are at least at par ; in Austria, Italy, Spain, and 
 Portugal they are lower by 30 or 50 per cent. 
 
 Throughout Germany, at the present day, the trade 
 in intellectual works — such as books, reviews, maps, 
 new^spapers — is almost entirely in the hands of Jews 
 and Protestants. 
 
 In the presence of all these concurring facts, it is 
 difficult not to confess that it is religion, and not race, 
 which is the cause of the extraordinary prosperity of 
 certain nations. 
 
 The Reformation imparted to those countries which 
 adopted it a force which history can hardly explain. 
 
 Take the Low Countries : we have there two mil- 
 lions of men upon a soil half sand, half marsh : they 
 resist Spain at a time when she holds luirope in her 
 hand, and no sooner are they freed from the Castilian 
 yoke, than they cover all the seas with their flag, they 
 lead the van of the intellectual world, they possess as 
 many ships as all the rest of the Continent put to- 
 gether, they become the soul of all the great Euro- 
 pean coalitions, they hold their own against the allied 
 powers of England and France, they present to the 
 United States that type of federal union which gives 
 scope to the indefinite growth of the great Republic, 
 and they set the example of those financial combina- 
 tions which contribute so powerfully to the actual 
 development of wealth — banks of issue and joint 
 stock companies. 
 
 Sweden, with her million of men, and her rocky 
 soil buried in snow for six months of the year, inter- 
 venes on the Continent, under Gustavus Adolphus, 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 1/ 
 
 with heroic might, defeats Austria by the hand of 
 her marvellous strategists, Wrangel, Torstenson, and 
 Banner, and saves the cause of the Reformation. At 
 the present day, luigland is the mistress of the seas, 
 the first among industrial and commercial nations ; 
 in Asia, she rules over two hundred millions of men, 
 and covers the globe with swarms from her own hive. 
 Sir Charles Uilke's fine book, "Greater Britain," pre- 
 sents the reader with a picture of Anglo-Saxon power 
 throughout the world. The United States increase 
 with bewildering rapidity. They reckon forty-two 
 million inhabitants. Towards the end of the century, 
 their population will be one hundred millions. Already, 
 they are the richest and most powerful people on the 
 face of the globe. » 
 
 Protestant Prussia has defeated two empires, each 
 containing twice her own population, the one in seven 
 weeks, the other in seven months. In two centuries, 
 America, Australia, and Southern Africa, will belong 
 to the heretical Anglo-Saxons, and Asia to the schis- 
 matic Slaves. 
 
 The nations subject to Rome seem stricken with 
 barrenness ; they no longer colonise,* they have no 
 
 * Here is an example taken at random. The Comte de Beau- 
 voir arrives at Canton. There he sees the islet of Sha-Myen, 
 ceded to P^ ranee and England, situated in the midst of the river. 
 The traveller is struck with the contrast between the part ceded 
 to England and that which belongs to France. " In six years' 
 time (1867) there have sprung up a little English village, a Pro- 
 testant church, a cricket-ground, a training-ground for race- 
 horses, spacious villas, and magnificent go -downs for the grea^ 
 
1 8 RESULTS OK PROTESTANTISM 
 
 powers of expansion. The expression employed by 
 M. Thiers to depict their religious capital, Rome, 
 viduitas et sterilitas, might be also a[)plicd to them- 
 selves. Their past is brilliant, but their present is 
 gloomy, and their future disquieting. Can there be 
 a sadder situation than that of Spain } France, which 
 has rendered such services to the world, is also greatly 
 to be pitied, not because she has been conquered on 
 the field of battle — military reverses may be repaired 
 — but because it seems her fate to be ceaselessly tossed 
 to and fro between despotism and atiarchy. Even 
 now, at the moment when, in order to recover herself, 
 she requires the harmonious action of all her sons, the 
 extreme parties arc contending for pre-eminence, at the 
 risk of another outburst of civil war. Ultramontanism 
 is the cause of the misfortunes of France. This it is 
 which has weakened the country by that baneful course 
 of action which we v/ill analyse further on. This it 
 was which, through the Empress Eugenie, an organ of 
 the clerical party, brought about the Mexican expedi- 
 tion in order to raise up the Catholic nations of 
 America, and the Prussian war in order to impede the 
 progress of the Protestant States of Europe.* 
 
 tea houses of China. A pathway separates the British from the 
 French territory. On our territory there are clumps of unculti- 
 vated trees, filth, stray dogs, cats, moles, but not a single house.'* 
 — " Voyage autour du monde,'' vol. ii. p. 427. 
 
 * So it was recently asserted by Prince Bismarck from the 
 tribune at Berlin. The Empress in July, 1870, said, "This is 
 my war." The decision in favour of war, in the Supreme Council 
 of Saint Cloud, on the 14th of August, was her doing. The 
 Emperor was well aware of the danger, and reluctant to the last. 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. I9 
 
 Italy and Belj^ium appear more prosperous than 
 France and Spain ; but is liberty definitely established 
 in those countries ? Able minds doubt it. Recently 
 a Roman journal, // Diritto, published a remarkable 
 work on the situation of Italy, with the significant 
 title, •* L'ltalia nera." " The nations subject to the 
 Pope arc either dead already or dyinj;," exclaims the 
 author with consternation : '* I popoli di rclit^ione papale 
 o sono gia morti o vanno morendi." " If," he adds. 
 " Italy appears less sicldy, the reason is, that the clergy, 
 expecting the restoration of the Pope, first by means 
 of Austrian, now by means of French intervention, have 
 not as yet attacked liberty and the constitution from 
 within. The clerical party held aloof during the elec- 
 tions ; but all this will be changed. The clergy have 
 already entered the arena at Naples, Rome, and 
 Bologna. The Church covers the country with asso- 
 ciations inspired by the Jesuits, and the congregations 
 seize upon the rising generation, whom they bring up 
 in the hatred of Italy and her institutions." This view 
 is just. Italy is at present in the condition in which 
 France found herself after 1789, and Belgium after 
 1830: the breath of liberty is carrying before it the 
 whole nation, even the clergy. Patriotism, the hope of 
 a brilliant future, the enthusiasm of progress — these 
 inflame all hearts and efface all dissensions ; but 
 before long, incompatibility must break out between 
 modern civilisation and Roman ideas. The clergy, 
 and especially the Jesuits, in obedience to the voice of 
 Rome, are already setting to work to undermine the 
 barely established edifice of political liberty. This is 
 precisely what has happened in Belgium since 1840. 
 
20 RESULTS OF PF^OTKSTANTISM 
 
 One of the authors of the Bel<,Man co stitutiojj, 
 perhaps the most distin^^iiished among them, said to 
 me lately, with heartfelt sorrow : *' VVc believed that 
 all that was necessary to found liberty was to proclaim 
 it by separating Church and State. I begin to think 
 that we deceived ourselves. The Church, relying on 
 the country districts, seeks to impose her absolute 
 power. The great cities which have given in their ad- 
 hesion to modern ideas will not let themselves be 
 enslaved without attempting resistance. We are 
 tending, like France, towards civil war. We are 
 already in a revolutionary position. The future ap- 
 pears to me big with troubles." The last elections 
 of 1874 have begun to bring the danger to light. The 
 elections for the Chambers have strengthened the 
 clerical party, while those for the Communes have 
 given power to the liberals in all the large towns. 
 Antagonism between the towns and the provinces, 
 which is one of the causes of civil war in France, 
 begins already to show itself in Belgium also. As 
 long as the government remains in the hands of pru- 
 dent men, who are more disposed to serve their coun- 
 try than to obey the bishops, grave disorders need not 
 be apprehended. But if the fanatics, who openly 
 accept the Syllabus as their political programme, 
 should attain to power, terrible shocks would follow. 
 . The Catholic countries on both sides of the Atlantic 
 are thus a prey to internal struggles which consume 
 their strength, or at least prevent them from advanc- 
 ing as steadily and rapidly as Protestant nations. 
 
 Two centuries ago supremacy belonged incontest- 
 
AND CATIIOIJCTSM. 21 
 
 ably to the Catholic States. The others \\»crc only- 
 powers of the second order. Now, put on one side 
 France, Austria, Spain, Itai)- and South America, and 
 on the other Russia, the luiipire of (ierniany, l^n^- 
 land and North America — clearly the predominance 
 has passed over to the heretics and schismatics. M. 
 Lcvasseur read of late, before L'Institut, a curious 
 work, in which he shows that in 1700 France alone 
 represented 31 per cent., or one-third, of the force of 
 the five great Powers together; whereas now, counting 
 six great ICuropcan Towers, she possesses no more 
 than I 5 per cent., or one-sixth part of their total force.* 
 To the eye of every man who desires to consult 
 facts without a foregone conclusion, it is thus manifest 
 that Protestantism is more favourable than Catholicism 
 to the development of nations. We must now find 
 the causes of this fact. I think it is not difficult to 
 point them out. 
 
 II. 
 
 It is nowadays universally admitted that the diffu- 
 sion of enlightenment is the first condition of progress. 
 Labour is productive in proportion to the intelligence 
 with which it is carried on. Civilised man derives his 
 wealth from the application of science, under all its 
 forms, to production. The miserable destitution of 
 
 * " Compte-rendu des seances de L'Institut," by M. Verge 
 November number, 1872. The population of France was in- 
 creasing very slowly. In the last quinquennial period it 
 diminished by 366,000, without counting, of course, the loss of 
 Alsace and Lorraine. 
 
22 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 the savage is the result of his ignorance. Thus, econ- 
 omic progress will be in proportion to the application 
 of scientific discoveries to industry. 
 
 The general spread of education is also indispen- 
 sable to the exercise of constitutional libert)^ In 
 lands where power is conferred by election, electors 
 must needs be sufficiently enlightened to choose their 
 representatives well, or the country will be ill-gov- 
 erned, will fail from bad to worse, and will march to 
 its ruin. In a despotic State, education is useful, but 
 it is not indispensable. In a great State which is 
 free, or which desires to be free, education is of 
 absolute necessity, under penalty of decadence from 
 inertia or disorder. In short, education is the basis 
 of national liberty and prosperity. Now, up to the 
 present moment, Protestant States alone have con- 
 trived to secure instruction to all. Vainly do Catho- 
 lic States declare education to be obligatory, as in 
 Italy ; or spend large sums for the same object, as 
 in Belgium ; they do not succeed in dispelling ig- 
 norance. 
 
 With regard to elementary instruction, Protestant 
 States are incomparably more advanced than Catholic. 
 England alone is no n^ore than on a level with the 
 latter, probably because the Anglican Church, of all 
 the reformed forms of worship, has most in common 
 with the Church of Rome. All the Protestatit coun- 
 tries, such as Saxony, Denmark, Sweden and Prussi?, 
 lead the van, having few, if any, illiterate children ; 
 the Catholic countries fall far behind, having a third 
 part of the population ignorant, as in I'rance and 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 23 
 
 Belgium, or three-fourths, as in Spain, Italy, or Por- 
 tL'gal. 
 
 What a difference in Switzerland, with respect to 
 this point, between the Catholic and Protestant Can- 
 tons ! The purely Latin Cantoris of Neuchatel, Vaud, 
 and Geneva are on a line with the Germanic Cantons 
 of Zurich and Berne, and are greatly superior to those 
 of Tessin, the Valais, or Lucerne.* The cause of the 
 contrast is evident, and has been often pointed out. 
 The Reformed religion rests on a book — the Bible ; 
 the Protestant, therefore, must know how to read.f 
 Accordingly Luther's first and last words were : — 
 " Teach the children ; that is the duty of parents and 
 magistrates : it is one of God's commandments.' 
 Catholic worship, on the contrary, rests upon Sacra- 
 ments, and certain practices, such as confession, 
 masses, sermons, which do not necessarily involve 
 reading. It is therefore unnecessary to know how 
 to read ; indeed it is dangerous, for it inevitably 
 shakes the principle of passive obedience on which 
 the whole Catholic edifice rests ; — reading is the road 
 that leads to heresy. The manifest consequence is, 
 that the Catholic priest will be hostile to education 
 or will at all events never make such efforts to extend 
 
 * For the facts, sec my book, " L'lnslruction du pcuple." 
 
 t During the war of 1870, it was ascertained tliat the Pro- 
 testant soldiers were much better instructed than the Catholic. 
 In the ambulances and hospitals, the former, as they began to 
 recover from their wounds, asked for books ; the latter, for a 
 game of cards. 
 
24 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 it as the Protestant minister will do. The organisa- 
 tion of popular education dates from the Reformation. 
 Education being highly favourable to the practice of 
 political liberty and the production of wealth, and 
 Protestantism favouring the diffusion of education, 
 we have here an evident cause of the superiority of 
 Protestant States.* 
 
 III. 
 
 It is agreed on all sides that the power of nations 
 depends on their morality. Iwerywhere is found the 
 maxim, which has almost become an axiom of political 
 science, that where morals are corrupted the State is 
 lost. Now it appears to be An established fact that 
 the moral level is higher among Protestant than 
 among Catholic populations. Religious writers confess 
 this themselves, and explain it by the fact that the 
 former remain more faithful to their religion than the 
 latter, which explanation I believe to be the true one- 
 If we read the literary works of P" ranee, if we are 
 present at the pieces most in vogue in the various 
 theatres, wc shall find that they are all alike founded 
 upon adultery in all its varieties and forms. The 
 novels and plays which have proved successful ought 
 to be strictly banished from the circle of any respect- 
 able family. In P^ngland and Germany this is not 
 the case. Those literary works which do not bear the 
 
 * M. de Candolles demonstrates by facts the superiority of 
 the scientific production of Protestant nations over that of 
 Cathohc States, in his remarkable book, " Histoire des sciences 
 et des savants depuis deu.x siecles." 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 2$ 
 
 stamp of foreign imitation are written in a tone and 
 style not alarming to modest ears."^ 
 
 As to French literature, the evil dates from afar. 
 The people of Provence inherited Gallo-Roman cor- 
 ruption, and under the name of gallantry their songs 
 produced a relaxation of morals and irregular amours, 
 and made them attractive. Gallantry has thus be- 
 come in France the keynote of all the works of imag- 
 ination, and one of the traits of the national character. 
 The king " Vert Galant " is the most popular of 
 French sovereigns. In the countries which have 
 have adopted the Reformation, the Puritan spirit has 
 curbed the license of morals, and has brought about 
 in its place a strictness which may have seemed ex- 
 cessive, but which has given an incomparable moral 
 tone. 
 
 In Catholic countries, those who have proposed to 
 combat the omnipotence of the Church have taken their 
 weapons, not from the Gospel, but from the spirit of 
 the Renaissance and from paganism. There are two 
 ways by which the Church may be attacked : either 
 by showing that she has wandered from the doctrine 
 of Christ, and by preaching a purer and more severe 
 Christianity than hers, or by attacking her dogmas 
 with irony, and inciting men's understandings against 
 her moral dictates. Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwinglius, 
 have taken the first course, Rabelais and Voltaire the 
 second. It is clear that the one, relying on the Gos- 
 
 * See the book recently published by M. Potvin : " De la 
 corruption du golit litt^raire en France." 
 2 
 
26 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 pel, must strengthen the moral sentiment, while the 
 other can only succeed by ruining it. Hence it comes 
 that almost all the French authors who have endeav- 
 oured to emancipate the minds of men have borne an 
 immoral mark. Would any one, without misgiving, 
 put into the hands, I will not say of a young girl, but 
 even of a young man, the complete works of Rabelais, 
 Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Courier, Beranger ? The 
 authors who respect morals, and who are given to the 
 youth of France to read — Bossuet, Fenelon, Racine 
 — are almost always devoted to the Church, and satu- 
 rated with absolutist doctrine. Hence comes the 
 profoundly Catholic tone of the greater number of 
 non-revolutionists in France. 
 
 In England and America things are different ; the 
 most decided partizans of liberty are at the same time 
 those who profess the most severe morality — namely, 
 the Puritans and the Quakers. While Bossuet was 
 formulating the theory of Absolutism, Milton was 
 writing that of the Republic, and it was the Puritans 
 who founded liberty in England and in the United 
 States. In the one case the writers who are religious 
 and moral preach slavery, whilst those who advocate 
 liberty respect neither religion nor morals : in the 
 other, on the contrary, the same men stand up at 
 once for religion, morals, and liberty. 
 
 See the con.sequences. Compare the private life of 
 the authors of the Revolution of 1648 in England, or 
 of the founders of the American Republic, with that 
 of the men of the French Republic. The former are 
 all of irreproachable lives, of spotless probity, of an 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 27 
 
 almost exaggerated severity of principle ; the latter, 
 with the exception of some fanatics such as Saint 
 Just and Robespierre, are for the most part very lax 
 in morals. The most powerful amongst them, the 
 true representative of the French Revolution, that 
 great genius and magnificent orator, Mirabeau, sells 
 himself to the Court, writes obscene books, and carries 
 depravity to its utmost limits. Turn to the austere 
 Calvinists, who conquered despotism and founded 
 Hberty in England and in America, and observe the 
 contrast ! Edgar Ouinet remarks, in his admirable book 
 on the French Revolution, that the men of that period, 
 so full of enthusiasm at the outset, soon wearied of the 
 effort, and ere long sought, or at all events submitted 
 to, the repose of slavery under the Empire. The 
 "Gueux" of Holland struggled for a much longer 
 time, and passed through far other trials without 
 allowing themselves to be discouraged. Their towns 
 were taken by storm, whole populations were mas- 
 sacred. A mere handful of men, they struggled with 
 an adversary who had the treasures of both worlds 
 at his disposal. They felt neither lassitude nor dis- 
 couragement, and they conquered in the end ; and 
 
 I why ? — they had faith. 
 
 I Pride, overweening selfishness and vanity, brought 
 the partizans of the French Revolution into mortal 
 and fratricidal conflict : they cut each other's throats 
 instead of uniting to found a republic. Those who 
 were engaged in freeing their country from tyranny, 
 succeeded in Holland, in England, in America, under 
 the influence of a certain spirit of chanty, humility 
 
28 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 and mutual support, in coming; to an understancMng 
 in order to consolidate their work. For the foundation 
 of a State, the Christianity of Tenn and of Wash- 
 ington is a better cement than the philosophy of 
 Vergniaud, of Robespierre, and of Mirabeau. Without 
 judging the two doctrines, it is easy to observe the 
 results which they have produced. 
 
 When the religious sentiment is weakened, the 
 point of honour, vanity, love of approbation, act as 
 the motive power for good deeds, and the spring 
 of moral life. Alfred de Vigny has shown this in 
 eloquent terms in a chapter of his book, " Grandeur 
 et servitude militaires." Mussct has repeated it in 
 these energetic lines, — 
 
 " L'orgueil . . . 
 C'est ce qui reste encore cl'un peu beau clans la vie." 
 
 M. Taine says, in his *' Notes sur I'Angleterre : " — 
 "In France the moral principle is founded on the 
 sentiment of honour, in England on the idea of duty. 
 Now the former is arbitrary ; its bearing varies ac- 
 cording to the individual." 
 
 In the France Nouvelle, Prevost-Paradol writes 
 as follows : — " In the eyes of every clear-sighted 
 and honest observer, our country now presents the 
 almost unique spectacle of a society in which the 
 point of honour is become the principal guarantee 
 of good order, and ensures the performance of the 
 greater number of those duties and sacrifices which 
 religion and patriotism have lost the power of accom- 
 plishing. If the laws are generally respected, if the 
 young soldier obediently rejoins his standard, and 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 29 
 
 remains faithful to it, if the responsible agent 
 respects the public exclic(|uer, if, in short, the 
 h^-enchman duly acquits himself of his duty to the 
 State and to his fellow-citizens, it is to the point of 
 honour that it is due. It is not owing to respect for 
 the Divine law, which long since has passed into the 
 rcc^ion of prt)blem ; nor from phih^sophic devotion 
 to an uncertain duty, still less to that abstract being, 
 the State, upset and discredited as it has been by so 
 many revolutions ; — it is tlie fear of having to blush 
 publicly for any action held to be disgraceful, which 
 alone maintains among us the effective desire to do 
 right." How faithful and distressing is this picture, 
 which Prcvost-Paradol traces in the anguish of his 
 soul, above all when he adds, ** That there should be 
 nothing left but the point of honour to lean upon, and 
 that even that should bend in one's grasp like the 
 fragile reed mentioned in Scripture !" 
 
 Read in France the proclamations to the people 
 and to the army, when their ardour is to be excited, 
 or their enthusiasm raised ; it is to the point of 
 honour, or to vanity, that appeal is made. Listen to 
 Napoleon : — " From the height of the Pyramids, forty 
 centuries observe you." " Soldiers, when returned 
 home, you will be able to say, ' I was at Jena, at 
 Austerlitz ! ' " Fither to speak of one's self or to be 
 in the mouths of others, is the aim and the motive. 
 Nelson, at Trafalgar, says simply, " P^ngland expects 
 every man to do his duty." 
 
 In the sayings of the men of the Revolution of the 
 Low Countries, or the United States of America, 
 
30 KKSULTS or PROTESTANTISM 
 
 appeal is mnde to the love of country, to duty, to the 
 Divine law. It is clear that these sprii-ij:;.s of action 
 are surer than the other ones. In truth, to be talked 
 about is but a hollow advantage. The point of honour 
 loses its efficacy as a rule of conduct as soon as a 
 man has stren^^th of mind enough to grasp it. More- 
 over, public oi)ini(3n may be perverted, and in such a 
 case cannot be invoked in favour of virtue. 
 
 Nearly all P'rench writers have exalted the Renais- 
 sance at the cost of the Reformation, because, being 
 broader in its views, it brought more complete eman- 
 cipation to humanity. The facts do not bear this out. 
 The countries which have embraced the Reformation 
 are decidedly in advance of those which have stopped 
 short at the Renaissance. This is because the Refor- 
 mation had within itself a moral force which was 
 denied to the Renaissance. Now moral force, coupled 
 with science, is the source of the prosperity of nations. 
 The Renaissance was a return to antiquity, the Refor- 
 mation a return to the Gospel. The Gospel, being 
 superior to the tradition of antiquity, was sure to 
 yield better fruits. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Reformation has favoured the progress of the 
 nations which have adopted it, by permitting them 
 to found free institutions, while Catholicism leads to 
 despotism or anarchy, and often alternately to both. 
 Representative government is the natural government 
 of Protestant populations. Despotic government is the 
 congenial government of Catholic populations. As 
 
AND CATHOT-UISM. 3! 
 
 lonj^ as they remain subject to it th'\\' arc at peace ; 
 they have the polity which suits the 111 ; when thc\' 
 try to shake it off they fall into confusion and aro 
 weakened, bcin<j^ in a state at variance with their 
 nature. So ar^^uc L' Uiihcrs and L.(X Civilta Cotiolidu 
 organs of the Roman court, anel the facts seem to 
 warrant their jud[;"ment. 
 
 It has often been asked wli\' tlic RcN'olution of the 
 Low Countries, of England, and of America, succeeded. 
 while the French Revolution seems to have failed. 
 M. Guizot has even published a special treatise to 
 elucidate this question, \\'hich in fact contains the 
 secret of our destinies. I answer withoit Iics^tiitio'i. 
 it is because the former took pl.icc in Protest. mt coun- 
 tries, the latter in a Catholic country. Voltaire had 
 already perceived this. Me asks himself how it has 
 happened that the Governments of France and Eng- 
 land have come to differ from each other as entirely as 
 those of Morocco and V^enice .^ " Is it not," says he, 
 " by reason of the fact that, having always complained 
 of the Roman court, the English have entirely ca.st off 
 its shameful yoke, while a people of greater levity has 
 borne it, affecting to laugh at it, and dancing in its 
 chains V Voltaire spoke truly ; but was it not he who 
 provoked the laugh and led the dance t 
 
 To-day we can prove to demonstration that which 
 men of intellect in the eighteenth century were only 
 beginning to perceive. The decisive influence which 
 forms of worship bring to bear on political life and 
 political economy had not hitherto been apparent. 
 Now it breaks forth in the light, and is more and more 
 clearly seen \\\ contemporary events,. 
 
32 KKSULTS OF PROTESTANTIJ^M 
 
 I'hc action of religion on the minds of men is so 
 profound that they are always led to give to the 
 organisation of the State forms which they have 
 borrowed from that of religion. 
 
 Wherever the sovereign is held to be the repre- 
 sentative of Divinity, liberty cannot establish itself, 
 inasmuch as tlie power of him who speaks and acts in 
 the name of (iod is necessarily absolute. The man- 
 dates of I leaven cannot be discussed. Simple mortals 
 have only to bow and obey. I know of no exception 
 to this rule. In the ancient empires of Asia, as in 
 those of the present day, in Mahometan States as in 
 Catholic countries, where kings reigned by right divine, 
 the people have been completely enslaved. lliey 
 were free at Athens and at Rome, because those who 
 governed, elected by their fellow-citizens, did not give 
 themselves out to be representatives of Divinity. The 
 priesthood was not a caste, and (.xerted but little 
 influence in the State. 
 
 Primitive Christianity could not but favour the 
 establishment of free and democratic institutions in 
 no ordinary degree. Doubtless on its ascetic side it 
 detached man from his worldly interests, and did not 
 lead him to claim his privilege as a citizen ; but by 
 purifying and raising morals, it qualified him more 
 for self-government, and consequently for a life of 
 liberty. Great equality existed in the bosom of the 
 Christian societies of the first centuries, and all 
 power emanated from the people. Freedom of speech 
 and opinion were the mainsprings of government. 
 The primitive Christian Churches were true demo- 
 
AND CArilol.RISM. 33 
 
 cratic republics. Accordin^^ly, when tlic Presby- 
 terians of the sixteenth century re-established the 
 ancient organisation of the Chinch, they were com- 
 pellccl to establish republican institutions in the State, 
 
 The supporters and the adversaries of the Roman 
 Church alike confound Christianity with Catholicism. 
 Those wl o attack Christianity attribute to it the princi- 
 ples, the abuses, and the crimes of the Roman Church; 
 while those who uphold the Roman Church invoke the 
 merits, the virtues, and the benefits of Christianity. 
 There is error on both sides. Christianity is favour- 
 able to liberty ; Catholicism is its mortal enemy ; so 
 affirms its infallible head, the Pope. 
 
 The history of the institutions of the Church shows 
 us constant proj^rcss towards an increasin[^ content ra- 
 tion of power. She has departed from the equal and 
 representative democracy of the first centuries, and, 
 through the proclamation of Papal Infallibility, has 
 arrived, in the nineteenth century, at the most 
 concentrated absolutism. A Democratic Republic 
 at the outset, she became aristocratic at the period 
 when the bishops affected an extension of their power 
 without losing their independence in relation to the 
 Pope. As long as councils exercised supreme control 
 she was still a constitutionul monarchy. At the 
 present time she realises the ideal of a theocracy, and 
 of the most absolute despotism imaginable. If civil 
 society, as facts show, tends to mould itself on 
 religious society. Catholics must be subjected to a 
 purely despotic government. In fact, it is in this 
 sense that the partizr.ns of the Church understand it. 
 
34 RKSUI/rS Ol" f'KOTKSTANTISM 
 
 Bossuct, ill his '* rnliticjiic tirco clc I'lCcriturc Salute," 
 traces the condition of the •j^c^vcrnnicnt which suits 
 a purely Cathohc country — "(loci establishes kin^s 
 as his ministers, and reii^ns thr()u<;h them over the 
 nations." "1^0)^1 authority is absolute." "The Prince 
 is not accountable to any one for his orders." 
 •* Obedience must be rendered to princes as to Justice 
 herself. They are Ljods, and in a measure partici- 
 ])ate in the Divine independence." *' Subjects have 
 only respectful remonstrance to oppose to the violence 
 of princes, and must neither mutiny nor murmur." 
 Thus, lojT^ically, in a Catholic country <;overnment 
 ought to be despotic ;* first, because such is the 
 
 * See in what pompous and vigorous lanj^uaj^e Hossuet gives 
 us the definition of monarchy, such as it springs from Roman 
 Catholic tradition, and such as it is handed down from Imperial 
 and Papal Rome : — 
 
 ** Obedience must be rendered to princes as unto Justice herself. 
 They are gods, and in a measure participate in the Divine 
 independence ; as in (iod all perfection is concentrated, so is all 
 the power of individuals in the person of the prince. Were (iod 
 to withdraw His hand, the world would relapse into nothing- 
 ness ; were authority to cease in the kingdom, all would be in 
 confusion. Consider the prince in his closet : thence emanate the 
 orders which cause magistrates and captains, provinces and 
 armies to act in concert with each other. We have here the 
 image of God, who, sitting on His throne in the highest 
 heavens, sustains the course of nature. In vain do the wicked 
 seek to hide themselves, the light of (iod follows them every- 
 where. Thus God, puts it in the power of the prince to discover 
 the most secret plots ; he has eyes and hands everywhere, the 
 birds of heaven tell him what is going on. He has even re- 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 35 
 
 government of the Chnrcli which serves as its type ; 
 next, beciuse kin^rs hold their power directly from 
 (lod or the Pop'.', wiiicli power can neither be limited 
 nor controlled. 
 
 The Refonn.'ition, on the contrar)', belnt^^ a return 
 towards primitive Christianity, enc,a:ndered everywhere 
 a spirit of liberty and of resistance to absolutism. It 
 tended to brin^r into existence republican and consti- 
 tutional institutions. The Protestant recognizes in 
 reli<;ion but one -authority — the l^ible. lie does not 
 bow to the authority of man, as does the Catholic ; he 
 examines and discusses for himself. Calvinists and 
 Presb)'terians havin^j^ re-established republican organi- 
 sation in the Church, the Protestant, by a logical 
 sequence, transported the same principles and the 
 same habits into political society. The accusation 
 levelled at the Reformation by Lamennais is com- 
 pletely true : "All power," he says, " had been denied 
 to religious society ; it was necessary also to deny it 
 to political life, iuid to substitute the will and reason 
 of each individual for the will and reason of God ; 
 from that time every one depending on himself alone 
 could not but enjoy entire liberty, and be Master, 
 King, God to himself." Montesquieu says also : " The 
 
 ceivcd from God a certain penetration, which appears like 
 divination, to assist him in the management of affairs. If 
 he has discovered intrigue at work, his long arms seize hold of 
 his enemies at the extremities of the eartli ; they disinter them 
 from the uttermost depths : there is no asylum safe from such 
 might as this." 
 
36 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 Catholic religion is best suited to a monarchy ; the 
 Protestant adapts itself best to a republic." 
 
 Luther and Calvin do not preach resistance to 
 tyranny ; they rather condemn it, and proclaim obedi- 
 ence. Neither do they admit full liberty of conscience. 
 But in sjMte of them, the principle of political and 
 religious liberty, and that of the Sovereignty of the 
 People, is the logical result of the Reformation. The 
 proof consists in the fact that everywhere this has been 
 it:; natural fruit. The writers of the reformed faith 
 claim the rights of the people, and wherever Protest- 
 ants triumph, there they establish free institutions. 
 In this their enemies have not been deceived ; they 
 have announced this connection between the Reforma- 
 tion and liberty as an evil. 
 
 " The Reformers," says a Venetian envoy in P^-ance 
 in the sixteenth century, " prerxh that the king has 
 no authority over his subjects. This tends," he adds, 
 "to a government similar to that which exists in Swit- 
 zerland, and to the ruin of the monarchical constitu- 
 tion of the kingdom."* "It was announced from the 
 pulpit," says Montluc, " that kings could have no 
 authority but that which pleased the people ; others 
 said that the nobility were no better than themselves. "•!- 
 This is in fact the free and levelling- breath of Calvin- 
 
 * See, on the political ideas of the Reformation, the instruc- 
 tive work of M. Laurent, "La Revolution Fran9aisc, " t. i. sect, 
 ii- § 3- 
 
 t " Blaise de Montluc." Collection dcs Menioires de Petitot. 
 I Serie, t. xxii. p. 26. 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 3; 
 
 ism. Tavannes often reverts to the democratic spirit 
 of the Huf^ucnots. " They are," he says, " repubh'cs 
 within monarchical states, having their resources, sol- 
 diers, and separate finances, and intending to estabhsh 
 a popular and democratic government." Dumoulin,* 
 the great jurist, denounced the Protestant pastors to 
 the Parliament, saying " that they had no other 
 purpose but to reduce P'rance to a popular State, and 
 to make of her a republic similar to that of Geneva, 
 from whence they had expelled the Count and the 
 Bi.shop, and that they were similarly striving to 
 abolish the right of primogeniture, purposing to put 
 the nobles on an ec[uality with the plebeians, and 
 the younger on an equality with the elder, as being 
 all sons of Adam, and equal by divine and natural 
 right." These are evidently the ideas of the French 
 Revolution, and if France had adopted the Reforma- 
 tion in the sixteenth century, she would from that 
 time have enjoyed, and she would have preserved, 
 liberty and self-government. In the year 1622, Gre- 
 gory XV. wTote to the King of P>ance to induce him to 
 have nothing more to do with Geneva, that hotbed of 
 Calvinism and republicanism. In PVance, after the 
 death of Henry IV., the Duke de Rohan, a Pluguenot, 
 wished to '' establish a republic," saying that the time 
 of kings had passed away. 
 
 The Protestant nobility have been taxed with the 
 wish to divide France into small republican states, as 
 in Switzerland, and it has been considered a merit on 
 
 ♦ " Tavannes." Collection des Meinoires de Petitot, t. xxiii. 
 P- 7?. 
 
38 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 the part of the League that it maintained French 
 unity. What the Huguenots in fact aimed at was 
 local autonomy, decentralisation, and a federal polity 
 which should secure communal and provincial liberties. 
 This it is which PVance still in vain seeks to establish, 
 and it is the Catholic passion for unity and uniformity 
 which has been the cause of the failure of the Revo- 
 lution, and which always brings back despotism. 
 
 Calvin holds that " the minister of the Holy Gospel 
 should be elected with the consent and approbation 
 of the people : the clergy presiding over the election." 
 This is the government which the Calvinists wished 
 to introduce into France. ** In the year 1620," says 
 Tavannes, " their State was truly popular, all autho- 
 rity, of which they only appeared to yield a part to 
 their nobility, being lodged in the mayors of the 
 towns and the ministers, so much so that, had they 
 attained their object, the State of France would have 
 arisen, like that of Switzerland, out of the ruin of 
 princes and gentry." * 
 
 As soon as the Reformation had in Germany placed 
 the Gospel in the hands of the peasantry, they 
 claimed abolition of serfdom, and the recognition 
 of their ancient rights, in the name of " Christian 
 liberty." The Reformation everywhere inspired 
 energetic demands for the restitution of the natural 
 rights, — liberty, toleration, equality of right, the 
 sovereignty of the people. They are inscribed in a 
 great number of the writings of the time, amongst 
 others in the celebrated pamphlet of Languet : '* Junii 
 Bruti Celtae, Vindicise contra tyrannos, de principe in 
 
^ AND CATHOLICISM. 39 
 
 populum populique in principem, Icgitima potestate," 
 and in the dialogue, " De I'autorite du prince et de la 
 liberte des peuples." * 
 
 These ideas, which form the basis of modern 
 liberty, have always found eloquent defenders among 
 Protestants. The Minister, Jurieu, defended them 
 against Bossuet in a well-known controversy, and 
 Locke has set them forth under a scientific form. 
 They were borrowed from Locke by Montesquieu, 
 Voltaire, and the political writers of the eighteenth 
 century, and from these same ideas the French Re- 
 volution sprang. But long before this they had been 
 applied, with constant success, in the Protestant States, 
 first in Holland, then in England, and above all, in 
 
 America. 
 
 The famous Edict of the i6th July, 1 581, by which 
 the States-General of the Low Countries proclaimed 
 the dethronement of the King of Spain, explicitly 
 sanctions the sovereignty of the people. In order to 
 dethrone a king, they v/ere necessarily obliged to 
 invoke the following principle: *' Subjects are not 
 created by God for the prince, in order that they 
 should obey him in all that he may please to com- 
 mand, but rather the prince for his subjects, without 
 whom he cannot be prince, in order that he may 
 govern them according to right and reason." The 
 Edict adds that the inhabitants, in order to withdraw 
 themselves from the tyranny of the king, have been 
 
 * " Me'moires de TEtat de France sous Charles IX.," t. iii., 
 pp. 57-64. See Laurent, " Rt^volution Fran^aise," t. i. p. 345- 
 
40 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM % 
 
 compelled to withdraw from their allegiance to him. 
 •* No other means remains to them whereby to 
 preserve and defend their ancient liberty, and that 
 of their wives, children, and posterity, for whom, ac- 
 cording to the law of nature, they are obliged to risk 
 their lives and their worldly goods." The authors of 
 the English Revolution of 1648 appealed to the same 
 principles. Milton and the other republicans of the 
 period defended them with admirable force of spirit 
 and of character. 
 
 We are in the habit of giving the credit of the 
 famous principles of '89 to the French Revolution 
 This is a grave historical error. In France eloquent 
 speeches were made on the subject ; but liberties 
 were never respected, not even the most sacred of 
 all, liberty of conscience.* The Puritans and the 
 Quakers have proclaimed and practised them in 
 America for the last 200 years, and it is from thence 
 and from England that Europe first adopted the idea 
 towards the end of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Even as early as the year 1620, the constitution of 
 Virginia established representative government, trial 
 by jury, and the principle that taxes should be voted 
 by those who pay thern. 
 
 From its first origin Massachusetts established com- 
 pulsory education, and complete separation of Church 
 
 * On this subject a very instructive article by Pr^vost- 
 Paradol, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 15th Sept., 1858, should 
 be read, in ^yhich he shows that neither law nor magistrates 
 have brought liberty of worship into France, It does not yet 
 exist there. 
 
AND CATHOLTCTSM. 41 
 
 and State. The different sects lived free under the 
 common law, and themselves chose their own min- 
 isters. Representative democracy existed there as 
 fully then as in our own day. The judges themselves 
 were annually chosen by the citizens. But one still 
 more important fact comes to light. A man arises 
 (in the year 1633), claiming not only toleration, but 
 complete religious equality in the eye of the civil law, 
 and on this principle he founds a State. This man is 
 Roger Williams, a name little known on our con- 
 tinent, but which deserves to be inscribed amongst 
 those of the benefactors of mankind. In a world 
 which 4000 years of intolerance had bathed in blood, 
 even before Descartes had established free research in 
 philosophy, he was the first to sanction religious 
 liberty as a political right. " Persecution for con- 
 science sake," he repeats, " is manifestly and lament- 
 ably opposed to the teaching of Jesus Christ." " He 
 who commands the bark of the State can maintain 
 order on board and bring her into harbour, although 
 all the crew be not obliged to assist at divine service." 
 "The civil power has dominion only over men's bodies 
 and worldly goods, it cannot interfere in matters of 
 faith, even to prevent a Church from falling into 
 apostacy or heresy." " By shaking off the yoke of 
 tyranny from our souls, we not only do an act of 
 justice to oppressed nations, we also found public 
 
 i liberty and peace on the interest of the conscience 
 
 , of all men." 
 
 It would be well to read, in the admirable history 
 
 ' of Bancroft, how Roger Williams founded the town 
 
42 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 of rrovidence, and the State of Rhode Island upon 
 these principles, then little understood throughout 
 Europe, except in the Protestant Low Countries. 
 When a constitution was formed in 1641, all the 
 citizens were summoned to vote upon it. The 
 founders themselves called it a democracy, and such 
 it certainly was in all the force of the term and in 
 the sense in which Rousseau understood it. The 
 people were directly self-governed. All citizens, 
 without distinction of creed, were equal before the 
 law ; and every law had to be ratified in the primary 
 assemblies. It was the most radical form of self- 
 government that human societies had known ; and 
 for two centuries it has lasted without disturbance or 
 revolution. 
 
 The Quakers of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 founded their State on similar principles. " We put 
 the power in the people" — this is the basis of the con- 
 stitution of New Jersey. The following are its principal 
 provisions: "No man, and no assembly of men, pos- 
 sesses power over the conscience. No one, at any 
 time, by any method, or under any pretext, shall ever 
 be prosecuted or injured, upon any ground whatever, 
 for religious opinions. The general assembly shall be 
 elected by secret ballot, livery man shall be qualified to 
 elect and to be elected. Electors shall give obligatory 
 instructions to their deputies. If the deputy does not 
 fulfil his obligations, he may be prosecuted. Ten com- 
 missioners, elected by the assembly, exercise executive 
 powers. Judges and constables are elected by the 
 people for a term of two years. The judges preside 
 
AND CATIIOT.ICTSM. 43 
 
 over the jury, but judicial povvor is exercised by the 
 twelve citizens who constitute the jury. No one shall 
 be imprisoned for debt. Orphans shall be brought up 
 at the charge of the State. Education is a branch of 
 public service paid for out of the common treasury." 
 
 Nearly the same principles are laid down in Penn- 
 sylvania and Connecticut. 
 
 These ideas of man's self-ownership and freedom ; of 
 his immunity from service or taxation without his own 
 express consent — this idea that government, justice, 
 and all other powers emanate from the people — this 
 aggregate of principles v/hich modern societies struggle 
 to enforce, is undeniably derived from Germanic tradi- 
 tion, and may even be found at its source among most 
 races before the development of royal power. But if 
 these principles, stifled as they were by feudalism 
 during the Middle Ages, and by centralised and abso- 
 lute monarchy dating from the fifteenth century, have 
 revived in Switzerland, England, Holland, and the 
 United States, it is owing to the democratic breath of 
 the Reformation ; and only in Protestant countries 
 have they maintained themselves, and secured order 
 and prosperity to the people. If France had not per- 
 secuted, strangled, and banished those of her children 
 who had become Protestants, she might have developed 
 those germs of liberty and of self-government which 
 had survived in the provincial States. This fact has 
 been completely established by M. Gustave Garrison.* 
 Every year contemporary studies and events bring 
 
 * Revue des Deux Mondes, 15th February, 1848. 
 
44 
 
 RESUl-TS OF I'ROTKSTANTISM 
 
 fresh corrobor.itlvc proofs. In the asscmbh'es of La 
 Rochelle and Grenoble, and in the States-General of 
 Orleans, the spirit of liberty and the parliamentary 
 spirit are as powerful as in the English parliament ; 
 and in them may be heard the strong, clear language 
 of Calvin, so admirably fitted for the treatment of the 
 great interests of religion and politics. 
 
 " We shall know how to defend our cities against 
 the king, without a king," said the Huguenots, and 
 there is no doubt that if they had triumphed they 
 would have founded a constitutional monarchy as in 
 England, or a Federal Republic as in the Low Coun- 
 tries. Had the French nobility preserved the spirit of 
 independence and of lawful resistance which they had 
 borrowed from Protestantism, they would have imposed 
 iir^its on the royal power, and France would have 
 escaped that oriental despotism of Louis XIV. and his 
 successors, which ruined the character of the nation.* 
 Francis I., in giving the signal for the persecution of 
 the Reformed,")- and Henry IV., in abjuring Protest- 
 
 * M. Quinet, in his book on the Revolution, pronounces the 
 following severe but just judgment on the French nobility of 
 that period : "They had sold their religious faith — how could 
 they be capable of founding political faith ? During the Fronde 
 they had shown a spirit of intrigue without ambition. While 
 rebelling against Mazarin, they crouched before the King as soon 
 as he appeared. Thus did their utter hoUowness become appar- 
 ent ; they had never led the French in the direction of liberty." 
 
 t " Francis I.," said Napoleon, at St. Helena, " was really in a 
 position to adopt Protestantism at its birth, and declare him- 
 self its leader in Europe. Thus he would have spared France 
 
AND ("ATiror.KISNT. 45 
 
 autism, betrayed the true interests of France, as the 
 nobles had done. The sayins^, " Paris is well worth a 
 mass," in whicli most French historians find a proof of 
 practical sense, is a revoltinj^ cynicism. To sell one's 
 self — to deny one's faith (ov material advanta^^es — is 
 surely an act to be branded by all honest men. France 
 bears the punishment of this to the present day, as she 
 still suffers from the fatal consequences of those two 
 great outrap^es to liberty of conscience — the massacre 
 of St. Bartholomew and the Revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes. France is, above all things, in want of men 
 who, without breaking with tradition, are willing to 
 accept new ideas. The republicans are generally hos- 
 tile or indifferent to all religious ideas, and, like their 
 ancestors, the revolutionists of the last century, they 
 lack a foundation on which any solid edifice can be 
 raised. Those again who uphold religious ideas, wish 
 to reanimate the old system .and oppose all reform. 
 At this moment France has an opportunity of found- 
 ing free institutions. But the partizans of monarchy 
 will either prepare the way for the return of a Napoleon 
 or they will plunge the country into anarchy by dint of 
 their blind self-will. Under Louis Philippe in 1850, and 
 
 her terrible religious convulsions. Unfortunately, Francis I. 
 ! understood nothing of the matter ; for he could never allege 
 scruples as his excuse, since he entered into alliance with the 
 Turks and brought them into our midst. The plain truth is, 
 that he was shortsighted. Stupidity of the times — feudal dul- 
 ness ! Francis I. was after all a mere tourney hero, a carpet 
 knight, a pigmy of a great man!" — ("Memorial," i/tti Aug., 
 j8i6.) 
 
46 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 again at present, the conservatives ruin their country 
 by their attachment to wurn-out forms of government. 
 A republic is now the only possible government for 
 France, and the republicans will prevent its taking 
 root, because Catholicism has saturated them with 
 the spirit of intolerance* and despotism. France 
 will hardly escape a fresh restoration of absolute 
 power. The Roman religion has not fitted the French 
 to live in freedom, to tolerate each other, and to 
 govern themselves. 
 
 Toleration may occasionally be found among Catho- 
 lic nations in their laws, but never in their habits of 
 life. Woe to him vvho, desiring to avail himself of 
 liberty of conscience, decides upon following the dic- 
 tates of his own ! He is even more derided by his 
 kindred, and by the indifferent, than by believers. 
 Sceptics find it more convenient to compound matters 
 by bending before the priest on all the important 
 
 * The intolerance of the French is probably due to their 
 Catholic education. Paris took part with the League. At the 
 time of Voltaire, the people were still full of hatred of Protest- 
 ants and sceptics. " We can ill bear contradiction in matters 
 near our heart," says a very sensible French writer. " The rashest 
 or the most absurd opinion is, in our eyes, a dogma out.side 
 of which is no salvation. Each party insists on being a Church, 
 and will admit of no doubt as to its infallibility. The most 
 liberal-minded seek to shut out by subterfuges from dissenters 
 the liberty they claim for themselves. Hence the facility with 
 which dictatorships are established, and with which are per- 
 petuated, at the hands of the various parties, as in turn they rise 
 and fall, the self-same methods of coercion." — (Emile Beaussire 
 Hevue des Deux Mondes, ist May, 1871.) 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 47 
 
 occasions of life, while they scruple not to ridicule or 
 to attack him. Resigned to the yoke of orthodoxy, 
 to which they submit while tliey deride it, they have 
 no toleration for those who, finding it too heavy, have 
 the courai^e openly to throw it off By means of 
 intimidation and ridicule, uniformity is enforced, and 
 liberty is but a name. 
 
 All modern nations are strivin^^^ to establish re- 
 presentative and constitutional government. This 
 system, which took its rise in ]Cn<^land, on the soil of 
 ancient Germanic institutions watered by Protestant- 
 ism, seems incapable of takin<,r durable root in Catho- 
 lic countries ; the fact beinj^% that the chief of a 
 State, be he king or president, cannot be a true con- 
 stitutional sovereign if he is a devotee, and confesses 
 as an obedient penitent. He is governed by his 
 confessor, who is subject to the Poi)e. By means of 
 the confessional the Pope is accordingly the real sove- 
 reign, unless it be the Jesuits, who direct the Pope. 
 The prerogatives granted by the constitution to the 
 depositary of the executive power, are in such cases 
 exercised by a foreign power, and to the detriment of 
 the country. Examples abound in history. Too docile 
 to the demands of their confessors, we see Louis XIV. 
 revoking the Edict of Nantes, James 11. of England 
 and Charles X. of P^rance losing their crowns, and 
 Louis XVL both crown and life, Ferdinand and Leo- 
 pold of Austria ruining their country by the most 
 frightful persecution, Augustus and Sigismond of 
 Poland paving the way to the partition of that coun- 
 try, by bringing into it Jesuits and intolerance. Under 
 
48 KKSIM.TS OF rkoTl-S'l-AN'riSM 
 
 a pious sovcrciiT^n given to confession, the constitu- 
 tional system is either a fiction or a fraud, for it 
 enslaves the country to the will of an unknown priest, 
 the organ of his Church's pretensions, or else, when 
 the land refuses to bear the humiliating yoke, it pro- 
 duces a revolution. In Austria the Emperor Francis 
 Joseph only preserved his constitutional monarchy by 
 resisting his confessor. In Trotestant lands the con- 
 stitutional system flourishes naturally, being on its 
 native soil ; while on Catholic soil, being a heretical 
 importation, it is undermined by the priest unless it 
 serves to secure his dominion, and thus it is either 
 perverted by the clericals, or overthrown by the 
 revolutionists. 
 
 V. 
 
 Another cruise of inferiority among Catholic popu- 
 lations lies in the fact that the religious sentiment 
 is weaker amongst their intelligent and governing 
 classes than in Protestant countries. This fact is, I 
 think, denied by no one. The episcopal writings 
 affirm it daily, and claim for religion the same 
 respect which she enjoys in England and America. 
 The enemies of all religion upbraid the Americans 
 and the English with what they call their narrow 
 bigotry : the strict observance of Sunday rest, the 
 public prayers and fasts, and lastly their rigid piety. 
 
 Two causes explain why religion preserves more 
 life and authority among the enlightened classes of 
 Protestantism. 
 
 First, Catholicism, by reason of its multiplied dog- 
 mas, its occasionally puerile ceremonies, its miracles, 
 
AND CATIlorjCTSM. 49 
 
 and its pilgrimages,* places itself outside the atmos- 
 phere of modern tlioii«4ht, while Protestantism, by 
 reason of its simplicity, and its various forms, capable 
 as they are of indefinite impnjvement, can adapt itself 
 thereto. M. Renan says very well, " The formation 
 of new sects, which Catholics bring as a mark of 
 weakness against Protestants, proves on the contrary 
 that the religious sentiment still lives amongst the 
 latter, since it is creative. Tliere is nothing more 
 dead than that which is motionless." 
 
 The apathy with which two new dogmas have re- 
 cently been accepted, which formerly would have 
 roused the strongest opposition and have led to schism, 
 is a sign of an incredible enfeeblement of all intel- 
 lectual life in the bosom of Catholicism. The ex- 
 cesses of superstition lead inevitably to infidelity. 
 The challenge thrown down to reason by the Church 
 leads those who refuse to abdicate their use of it, to 
 reject all religious worship. A French writer, M. 
 Geruzet, has portrayed this situation in an incisive 
 sketch : " The father of a family, who believes in 
 God without believing in St. Cupertin, is in great 
 difficulty between his religious daughters and atheistic 
 
 * Agassiz, in his " Voyage au Bresil," writes thus on the sub- 
 ject of the influence of Catholicism in that country : " The priest 
 is the instructor of the people. He must cease to beheve that 
 the mind can be contented to be nourished exclusively on gro- 
 tesque processions, with coloured saints, lighted tapers, and 
 cheap nosegays. As long as the people do not demand another 
 sort of rehgious instruction, they will continue in their downward 
 coursCji or will not be able to improve." 
 
50 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 sons. The Lord deliver us from Atheism and from the 
 worship of St. Cupertin ! "* Evidently " the worship 
 of St. Cupertin " engenders Atheism, and the two 
 have brought France to the position in which we 
 behold her, because there is no longer room for a 
 reasonable religion. 
 
 Catholicism produces such complete indifference in 
 religious matters, that even the strength requisite 
 honestly to leave the Church is wanting. We see 
 Protestants becoming Catholics, because, preserving 
 some religious faith, they seek the true religion and 
 believe that Rome offers it to them. Few Catholics 
 become Protestants, because they have become hostile 
 or indifferent to every species of religion. This in- 
 difference again is useful to the Church, because it 
 prevents men from withdrawing themselves com- 
 pletely from her authority, and she always ends by 
 recovering the children of her adversaries. 
 
 The second motive which leads Catholic popula- 
 tions to infidelity and priestopliobia is, that, as the 
 Church*t" shows herself to be hostile to modern ideas 
 and liberties, all those v/ho are attached to the latter 
 are led, often against their own wishes, to hate and 
 resist her. Voltaire's cry of hatred, " Ecrasons I'in- 
 
 * In tracing the biography of Geruzet, Prevost-Paradol 
 quotes an irreverent but striking saying of his : " The nations 
 which neglect themselves are covered with monks — they are 
 the vermin of the social body." On this point, however, some 
 reserve might, perhaps, be called for. 
 
 t See letter to the Editor of the Times, printed at the end* 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 5 1 
 
 fame," becomes logically and everywhere the avowed 
 or unavowed word of command of liberalism. The 
 liberal attacks, and must attack, priests and monks 
 without intermission, because they wish to enslave so- 
 ciety to the Pope, and to his delegates, the Bishops. 
 He cannot respect the dogma by means of which he 
 is to be deprived of liberty. 
 
 We have established the fact and its causes, let us 
 now see its consequences. 
 
 The first is, that the efforts to free from Roman 
 dominion the countries which have revolted from her, 
 in the name of a simple negation or of a reasoning 
 scepticism, cannot be successful. No nation has ever 
 made a more violent effort to succeed in this enter- 
 prise than France. She has employed all the means 
 in her power with incomparable vigour and brilliancy : 
 the reasoning of philosophy and the banter of f'ction, 
 the satire of comedy and the eloquence of the Forum, 
 the torch of the incendiary, the stealthy sap of the 
 miner, and the guillotine. 
 
 At this moment clericalism reigns in France ; it 
 hands over all instruction to the Jesuits, and prepares 
 the return of a monarchy wholly devoted to the 
 Church. Her influence increases rapidly, and, as in 
 Belgium, seems to become irresistible. This follows 
 from the fact that, in religious matters, we can destroy 
 nothing but what we replace. If, in politics, as in 
 natural science, reverence were paid to the lessons of 
 experience, this truth w^ould be admitted as an axiom 
 by all unprejudiced people. Free-thought will not 
 break down the dominion of the Church ; on the con- 
 
52 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 trary, it will rather strengthen it by the terror which 
 it inspires, for it does not satisfy the deep desires of 
 the human heart. 
 
 Thus the attempt to destroy Catholicism without 
 replacing it does not attain its end, but gives rise to 
 the revolutionary spirit. See how this spirit charac- 
 terises all Catholic populations, in America as in 
 Europe, whilst observers are struck by its absence 
 even among the radical democracies of the United 
 States. Protestants respect both law and authority. 
 Catholics, unable either to found liberty or to do 
 without it, make despotism necessary, and yet will 
 not submit to it. Hence arises an ever active leaven 
 of rebellion. When the evil reaches its final limit, 
 the country oscillates between anarchy and despotism, 
 consuming all its strength in this struggle of irrecon- 
 cilable parties. This is the picture presented to our 
 eyes by Spain, and by other States which are arriving 
 at a similar condition. Whence comes the evil .? I 
 believe the cause to be as follows : 
 
 Regulated liberty is not possible without good 
 morals. Now, the ministers of public worship are in 
 reality the only persons who speak of morality and of 
 duty to the people. If these men be discredited in the 
 minds of the great mass of the population, who will 
 replace them in this, their indispensable office ? Cer- 
 tainly it will not be the free-thinkers. Guizot has 
 admirably said that Christianity is a great school of 
 respect. If, in order the better to defend liberty, the 
 spirit of liberal Voltairianism shakes the authority of 
 Catholicism, as it must do, the respect even for legiti- 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 53 
 
 mate authority disappears, and gives place to a spirit 
 of opposition, of disparagement, of hatred and insur- 
 rection. Thus is produced the revolutionary tempera- 
 ment of Catholic populations.* Only by c mplete 
 submission to Rome, as was formerly the case with 
 Spain, and now with the Tyrol, do they live in peace. 
 If they attempt to emancipate themselves, they escape 
 with difficulty from anarchy. 
 
 VI. 
 
 With the assistance of the clergy, everything in 
 matters of social reforms is easy : without such help, 
 or in spite of it, all is difficult and at times impossible. 
 See how this holds with reference to primary instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Enact compulsory education with the co-operation 
 of the minister, as among Protestant countries, you 
 will accomplish your end. But if, on the contrary, 
 the priest is hostile or indifferent, as in Catholic coun- 
 tries, the law is not observed. You need only refer 
 to the statistics of schools in Italy. If the priest be 
 allowed to enter the school by virtue of his office, as 
 in Belgium, he prepares the triumph of theocracy. 
 If he be expelled, he destroys the school, for he 
 causes it to be deserted. Moreover, in your normal 
 schools, will you infuse a spirit of resistance and of 
 hostility to the clergy into your teachers in order 
 
 * M. DescliaRel has recently written in the National, "For 
 us Frenchmen, liberty and revolution are synonymous, because 
 authority and oppression have too often been so." 
 
54 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 that they may transmit it to their pupils ? You will 
 inevitably destroy the religious sentiment, and create 
 an atheistic people. Logic drives, and " free-thought" 
 invites you to it. Are you prepared for this ? In 
 Protestant countries, in America and in Holland, you 
 have non-sectarian lay schools, but they are entirely 
 penetrated by the Christian spirit. In a Catholic 
 country, lay schools will only be able to exist by dint 
 of a violent struggle with the clergy, who will wish to 
 destroy them ; they must therefore inevitably be anti- 
 religious. 
 
 As for the formidable social questions, which pro- 
 duce conflict between the w^orking classes and the 
 capitalists, Christianity provides us with their solu- 
 tion, for, by means of the brotherhood and self-denial 
 which it advocates, it leads mankind to the reign of 
 justice. Between really Christian masters and men 
 no difficulty could arise, for equity would preside over 
 the division of profits. We feel but too keenly the 
 frightful void caused by the weakening of religious 
 sentiment, which results from the forced opposition to 
 the only form of worship which we knew. 
 
 In Protestant countries, on the contrary, the 
 ministers of public worship are highly esteemed 
 among all classes of society, and through their 
 mediation, and the Christian influences of which they 
 are the respected organs, strifes lose some of their 
 bitterness. 
 
 In his fine work on the French Revolution, Quinet 
 proves that if this colossal effort of emancipation has 
 not been successful, it has been in consequence of 
 
AND CATHOLICISM. 55 
 
 religious opposition, and hence he concludes it to be 
 impossible thoroughly to reform the civil and political 
 constitution of a country without also reforming its 
 public worship. The reason is that civil and political 
 society tends to take the forms of religious society. 
 
 The priest has so great a hold on souls that he 
 imposes his ideal on them, unless you root out the 
 religious sentiment by means of which he governs 
 them. Now, in such an attempt as this, nations run 
 the risk of perishing. 
 
 Steady progress is very difficult in Catholic coun- 
 tries, because the Church, aiming at establishing her 
 dominion throughout, the living energies of the nation 
 are almost exclusively employed in repelling the pre- 
 tensions of the clergy. See what is taking place in 
 Belgium. All party efforts are concentrated on this 
 one question, and other interests, even those of our 
 national defences and of our independent existence, 
 are subordinated to it. The struggle is so keen that 
 we have twice already been on the eve of a violent 
 commotion, and it is due only to the wisdom of the 
 Sovereign that we have twice escaped the danger. 
 The forces employed in struggling against the clerical 
 party are forces lost to progress, for even when they 
 prevail the victory has no other result but that of pre- 
 venting us from falling under the yoke of the bishops. 
 
 The celibacy of the priests, the absolute submission 
 of all the ecclesiastical heirarchy to one single will, and 
 the multiplication of monastic orders, constitute among 
 Catholics a danger unknown to Protestant countries. 
 
 I admire a man who, in order to devote himself to 
 
56 RESULTS OF PROTESTANTISM 
 
 his fellow-men and to truth, renounces the joys of 
 family life. St. Paul is rii^ht : he who has a difficult 
 mission to fulfil should not marry. But when all 
 priests are bound to celibacy a great danger accrues 
 to the State, in addition to that which threatens 
 morals. These priests form a caste, having a special 
 interest differing from that of the nation. 
 
 The true home of the Catholic clergy is Rome — as 
 they themselves announce. They will therefore sacri- 
 fice their country, if need be, to the welfare or to the 
 dominion of the Pope, the infallible head of their reli- 
 gion and the representative of God upon earth. First 
 Catholic, tJien, if the good of Catholicism permit it, 
 Belgian, French or German; this is the only patriotism 
 from a Catholic point of view. 
 
 When the Liberal party was in power in Belgium, 
 and Napoleon III., before the Italian war, assumed 
 the attitude of defender of the Church, I was told by 
 more than one of the Flemish priests, " Deliverance 
 will come from the South." At the present day the 
 German Ultraniontanes openly profess that, in the 
 interest of the Church, they would betray Germany. 
 Has not a Bavarian deputy said in open Parliament, 
 " In vain you raise new regiments ; if they are Catho- 
 lic they will pass over to the enemy !" 
 
 The monk acknowledges a country still less than 
 the priest. Slave to the Papacy, detached from local 
 ties, he lives only in the Church, which is universal, 
 and he has no other prospect but that of her rule, 
 which will also be his. How shall the State pre- 
 serve its independence in presence of the clergy 
 
AND CATIIOIJCISM. 57 
 
 and of th(- monks, both of whom wish to have the 
 upper han and who hold the masses in subjection 
 by the most powerful and irresistible means of action ? 
 In Protestant countries the clercjy are married, and 
 have children ; they have thus the same interests 
 and the same mode of life as other citizens. They 
 are divided into a great number of sects ; therefore 
 they do not obey the same word of command. They 
 are not hierarchically subject to the will of a forei<>n 
 chief who is pursuing the dream of universal dominion. 
 They are national, because their Church is a national 
 Church. They are independent of the State as in 
 America, subject to the State as in England ; but 
 they do not aim at being masters of the State, as in 
 France or in Belgium. 
 
 Separation of Church and State is a principle which 
 it is universally sought to establish. In Protestant 
 countries this may succeed, as we see in America, 
 because the clergy submit to it. But in Catholic 
 countries it will be vain to enact it. The Church, 
 asserting as she does that temporal things should be 
 subject to spiritual, as the body is to the soul, will 
 only accept this' system of separation so far as she 
 can profit by it in order to attain her end. This 
 separation will therefore be either a snare or a fraud. 
 You cannot, in the same man, separate the believer 
 from the citizen, and it is usually the sentiments of the 
 former which influence the actions of the latter. The 
 ministers of public worship exert a much greater 
 authority than the representative ministers of the 
 
 State, over those who believe them to be the inter- 
 4 
 
5S RF.SUI/rS OK PKOI'lCSTAN'riSM 
 
 preters of the Deity ; for the priest promises eternal 
 happiness, and threatens never-ending hell-torments, 
 while the layman disposes only of earthly and tem- 
 porary punishments and rewards. Throiiy;h the eon- 
 fessional the priest has in his power the Sovereign, 
 the magistrates, and, through the electors, the Houses 
 of Parliament. As long as he dispenses the sacra- 
 ments, the separation of Church and State is there- 
 fore only a dangerous illusion. 
 
 To govern with the clergy is to subject the nation 
 to their dominion, and to govern in opposition to 
 them is to imperil all authority. To govern side by 
 side, while ignoring them, would be the wisest course; 
 but that they will not permit. He who is not for me 
 is against me, they say. It is necessary, therefore, to 
 resign one's self either to obey or to resist them, and I 
 do not know which of the two is the safer course. 
 
 The Catholic nations of the Continent have bor- 
 rowed principles and institutions from England and 
 America, which, having sprung from Protestantism, 
 lead under its influence to good results. But on the 
 Continent we already begin to see whither they tend, 
 when they are opposed or turned to account by an 
 Ultramontane clergy. They end in disorder, when 
 the masses lose their faith, as in Spain or in France, 
 or in the reign of episcopacy, when they retain it, as 
 in Belgium. 
 
 The attentive and disinterested study of contem- 
 porary facts seems then to lead us to the dreary con- 
 clusion, that Catholic nations will not succeed in 
 preserving the liberties which sprang from Protest- 
 
AND c:atiioi;icisi\i. 
 
 59 
 
 antism. In submittini; to the iibsolutc (loiiiini(i]i of 
 the Church, they mi,L;ht perhaps, if they were isolated, 
 enjoy a peaceful ki; d of happiness and a life of ^i^-entle 
 mediocrity, l^ut a danger from without seems to 
 threaten them, and that soon, unless they refuse to 
 obey episcopal commands. 
 
 Buckle considers indiffereutism to be one of the 
 merits of our age, inasmuch as it preser\'es us from 
 religious wars. This advantage, if it be one, our epoch 
 is not likely long to maintain. Everything seems to 
 be leading up to a great conflict, of which religion will 
 be one of the chief causes. Already, in the year 1870, 
 Ultramontanism has declared war on Germany. If 
 Henry V. or Napoleon IV. ever reach the throne, it 
 will be with the concurrence of the clergy, who will 
 push on a new crusade in order to deliver their perse- 
 cuted brethren beyond the Rhine, on whose future 
 assistance they will reckon. The States in which the 
 clerical party will prevail will probably be dragged 
 into the religious war. This is the policy which is 
 preached in France b}' U Univcrs, and elsewhere by 
 the other organs of the Roman Curia. The restoration 
 of the legitimate sovereigns in the three Latin coun- 
 tries, Spain, Italy, and France ; Protestant Prussia 
 crushed in the dust ; Germany given over to Austria ; 
 Rome restored to the Pope, and supreme power to the 
 Church ; the return to the true principles of Govern- 
 ment, that is to say, to those proclaimed by the Syllabus 
 and by Catholic tradition — this is the grand scheme, 
 the realisation of which is everywhere in preparation 
 by the Ultramontanes. Will they succeed } Who 
 
6o ULTKAMONTANISM TN BF.LGTUM. 
 
 can say ? Hut, if they fail in tliis assault against 
 Germanic rrotcstaiitisin, what will be the fate of the 
 vanquish d ? We may tremble when we reflect on the 
 calamities in st(M*e for Europe throu^^h the dream of 
 the restoration of universal dominion to the Church, 
 which at this moment she claims with greater audacity 
 and obstinacy than ever. 
 
 "TiMKS," DECEMBER I4TII, 1874. 
 
 ULTRAMONTANISM IN BELGIUM. 
 
 A Monsieur le Redactem' du " Times.'' 
 
 Monsieur : 
 
 Lord ArundcU de Wardour dit " that during the last 
 two centuries no Pope has trenched upon the poHtical ground ;" 
 et Lord Acton, tout en prouvant jusqu'^ quels exces ont ete por- 
 tees les doctrines Ukramontaines, croit neannioins qu'il n'en 
 peut resii'ter actucllcnient aucun danger. 
 
 Permettez-moi de montrer combien le danger est r^el et grand, 
 en rappehmt certains faits empruntes k Thistoire de mon pays, la 
 Belgique. 
 
 En 1 81 5, le Roi Guillaume du Pays-Bas voulut donner k son 
 royaume une Constitution qui consacrait toutes les liberies 
 modernes. L'I'piscopat Beige condamna cette Constitution 
 dans wvi j}iij:;cni€nt doctrinaL au nom de FEglise, et la fit rejeter 
 dans I'Assemblec des Notables par 798 voix contre 527. II est 
 utile de reproduire les termes <\q. c.^ jui^eineiit doctrinal, "{^dixc^ 
 qu'ils montrent clairement que les vrais Catholiques ne doivent 
 pas maintenir les libertes modernes quand ils peuvent les sup- 
 primer :- - 
 
 '• C'est done pour remplir un des devoirs les plus essentiels de 
 I'Episcopat, pour nous acquitter euvers les peuples, sur lesquels 
 le Saint-Esprit nous a ctablis eveques pour gouverner I'Eglise 
 de Dieu (Act 20, v. 28), de I'obligation qui nous a ete strictement 
 imposee par I'E^glise, que nous avons juge necessaire de d(^clarer 
 qu'aucun de nos dioccsains respectifs ne peut, sans trahir les 
 plus chers intdrets de sa religion, sans se rendre coupable d'un 
 
ULTRAMONTANISM 'N HKLGIUM. 6l 
 
 grand crime, preter les differents scrments prcscrits par la Consti- 
 tution, par Icsqiicls on s'c.Miga<(c h miiintenir la nouvellc loi fonda- 
 mentalc, ou a concoiuir an niainlicn ct a Tobscrvation de la 
 dite loi. 
 
 " En cfifct, on s'oblige par Ics dits scrments h observer et k 
 maintcnir tons les articles de la nouvelle Constitution et, par 
 consequent, ceux qui sont opposes h I'esj^rit et aux maximes de 
 la religion Catholi{|uc, ou t|ui teiuient t-videmmcnt a opprimer et 
 h asservir I'Eglise de Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Or, tels sont les articles suivnnts : 
 
 "'Art. 190. La liberte des opinions rcligieuses est garantie ^ 
 tous. 
 
 "'Art. 191. Protection dgale est accordoe a toutcs les com- 
 munions religieuses qui existent dans le royaumc. 
 
 "'Art. 192. Tous les sujets du Roi, sans distinction de croy- 
 ance religieuse, jouissent des monies droits civils et politiques, et 
 sont habiles h toutes dignitds et emplois quelconques. 
 
 "'Art. 193. L'Exercice public d'aucun culte ne peut etre 
 empechd, si ce n'est dans le cas oil il pourrait troubler I'ordre et 
 la tranquillitc publique. 
 
 "'Art. 196. Le Roi veille h ce que tous les cultes se contien- 
 nent dans I'obeissance qu'ils doivent aux lois de I'Etat. 
 
 '"Art. 226. L'instruction jniblique est un objct constant des 
 soins du Gouvernement. Le Roi fait rcndre compte tous les ans 
 aux Etats-Generaux de I'etat des ecolcs superieures, moyennes 
 et infdrieures. 
 
 '"Art. 145. Les Etats (provinciauxj sont charg«^s de I'exdcu- 
 tion des lois relatives h la protection des diffe'rents cultes et h> leur 
 exercice exterieur, k l'instruction publique, (Sic. 
 
 " ' Art. 2.-— Additionel. ^Toutes les lois demeurent obligatoires 
 jusqu'^ ce qu'il y soit autrement pourvu.' 
 
 " Nous nous bornerons a faire sur chacun de ces articles quel- 
 ques courtes observations. 
 
 "Art. i9oet 191.-1. Jurerde maintcnir la libertd des opinions 
 religieuses et la protection e'gale accord ee h tous les cultes, 
 qu'est-::e autre chose que de jurer de maintenir, de prot^ger 
 1 errcur comme la verite ; de favoriser le progres des doctrines 
 anti-Catholiques ; de semer, autant qu'il est en son pouvoir dans 
 le champ du pfere de famille, I'ivraie et le poison qui doivent in- 
 fecter la generation prescnte et les generations futures ; de con- 
 tribuer ainsi, on ne peut plus efficaccment, ti eteindre peu k peu 
 dans ces belles contrees le flambeau de la vraie foi .'' L'Eglise 
 Catholique, qui a toujours repousse de son sein Terreur et V\\4y4- 
 sie, ne pounait regarder comme ses vrais enfants ceux qui 
 oseraient jurer de maintenir ce qu'elle n'a jamais cess^ de con- 
 
62 ULTRAMONTAXISM IN IlKIAHUM. 
 
 (lamncM*. II est notoirc tjuc c:cttc datv^crcusc nouvcautt^ n'a <St4 
 inlroduite, pouv la piviniiMC fois. dans iin pays Cathdliqiic, que 
 ])ar Ics nivolutionnaires dc Krancc, il y a. environ vinLjt-cinq ans, 
 cl cilia cctte epo([iic Ic chcfdc Tlv^liso la condanina hautcmcMit. 
 
 "'La religion,' dit-il, 'a ddja ote fortcnient atiaqiicc par les 
 d(5crcts qui sunt enianccs dc ccttc Asseniblce Nationale. Des 
 maux cjue nous (lt'j)l()i()ns ont rte occasionnc's par les fausses 
 doctrines i|u\)n a ivp mduos depuis lon;^flcnips (lans unc multi- 
 tude d'ecrits cnipoisonncs ([ui se lrf)uv(jnt dans les mains de tout 
 le monde ; et c'cst artn que cette funeste contagion se propagCeit 
 avec plus de hardiesse et de rapiditc par les moycns de la presse, 
 qu'une des premieres oper.itions de rAsscinbU'o Nationale a dtd 
 dc dcc.retcr la libcrti5 do penscr re ([u'on voudrait en matiere de 
 religion, d'exprimcr lil)rcment et impuncment ses opinions t\ cet 
 (5gard, d-.^ ne suivre, en un mot, d'autres regies et d'autrcs lois en 
 cette matierc que celles qu'on voudrait se prescrire. 
 
 " ' Informds de ces cvenements, pouvons-nous garder le silence 
 sur tant de maux, et ne pas clever notre voix Apostolique contre 
 CCS funestes decrcts qui ont jDour objet d'aneantir la religion ?' 
 (Allocution du 29 Mars 1790.) 
 
 " Art. 192. — 2. Jurer de maintcnir I'observation d'une loiqui 
 rend tous les sujets du Roi, dc quelque croyance religicuse qu'ils 
 soient, habilcs h posscdcr toutcs les (lignites et emplois quel- 
 conques, ce serait justifier d'avancc et sanctionner les mesures qui 
 pourront etre prises pour contier les intcrots de notre sainte re- 
 ligion dans les provinces, si cminemcnt Catholiques, ^ des fonc- 
 tionnaires Protestants. 
 
 "Art. 196. —4. Jurer d'obscrver et de maintcnir une loi, qui 
 suppose que I'Eglise Catholi([uc est soumise aux lois de I'Etat et 
 qui donne au souverain le droit d'obliger le clergd et les fiddles h 
 ob6'\r ktoutes les lois de TKtat, de quel(|ue nature qu'elles soient, 
 c'est s'exposer manifestement h, coopcrcr a I'asservissement de 
 I'Eglise Catholiquc. C'cst au fond soumettre, suivant I'expression 
 de notre Saint Pere le Pape, la puissance spirituellc aux caprices 
 de la puissance scculiere. (P>ullc du 2S Juin 1809.) 
 
 "Art. 226. — 5. Jurer d'observer et de maintcnir une loi qui at- 
 tribue au souverain, et h- un souverain qui nc professe pas notre 
 sainte religion, Ic droit de rdgler Tinstruclion publique, les dcoles 
 supdrieures, moyenncs et infcrieures, c'est lui livrer a discretion 
 I'enseignement public dans toutcs scs branches, c'est trahir hon- 
 teusement les plus chers inlcrets dc I'Eglise Catholique. Le 
 pouvoir qu'ont les cveques de survcillcr rcnscignement de la foi 
 et de la morale Chretienne dans toutc I'ctcndue dc Icurs dioceses, 
 comme celui de reuiplir toutcs les autrcs fonctions de leur minis- 
 tere, dmane dc la volontc ct dc I'autoritc de Jdsus-Christ lui-meme. 
 
ULTF^AMONTANISM IN HKLC.IUM. 63 
 
 On ne pent Ic leur otcr ni Ic diminuer sans soumcttre la doc- 
 trine de la foi ct toutc la dii^ciplino ccclcsia^iticiuc a la puissance 
 s<5culiere, sann rcnvciscr, i)ar ci)nsc([ucnl, tout 1 edifice de la reli- 
 gion Catholique. 
 
 "Art. 145.- 6. Jurer d'observer et de maintenir une loi qui 
 autorise les Etats provinciaux h exccuter les lois relatives h, la 
 protection dcs diffc'^rents cukes, a lem- excrcice exterieur. a I'in- 
 struction t>ublic|ue, u'est-ce pas contier les plus *;rands intcruts 
 de la religion ti des laics qui n'ont et ne pcuvcni avoir aux yeux 
 de I'Eglise Catholique aucune quallte, soit pour reconnaitre la 
 justice ou I'injustice des lois dece genre qui leur scront envoydcs, 
 soit pour en d[/riger I'application, soit pour en ordonner I'excicution 
 dans les diocdscs respectifs ? 
 
 "Art. 2 addit.- -7. Jurer de regarder conime (ibligatoires 
 jusqu'h, ce qu'il y soit autremcnt pourvu, et de maintenir toutes 
 les lois qui sont niaintenant en vigucur, ce serait co-operer evi- 
 demment h I'execulion evcntuelle de plusiciu's lois anti-Catho- 
 liques et manifestemeut injusles, que renferment les Codes Civil 
 et Pdnal de I'ancien Gouvernemeiit Franyais, et notamment de 
 celles qui permettent le divorce, c[ui autorisent Idgalement des 
 unions incestueuscs condaninees par I'Eglise, qui ddcernent 
 contre les ministres de I'Evangile, fideles a leurs devoirs, les 
 peines les plus sdvt>res, &.c. — toutes lois qu'un vrai Catholique 
 doit avoir en horreur. 
 
 " II est encore d'autres articles qu'un veritable enfant de 
 I'Eglise ne pent s'engager par serment h observer et i\ maintenir, 
 et dont I'urgence des circonstances ne nous permet pas de nous 
 occuper en ce moment ; tel est, en particulier, le 227me, C|ui 
 autorise la libertd de la presse, et ouvie la porte kune infinitd de 
 dt^sordres, a un ddluge d'ccrits anti-Chretiens et anti-Catholiques. 
 11 nous suffit d'avoir prouvc que la nouvelle loi fondamentale 
 contient plusieurs articles opposes a Tesprit et aux maximes de 
 notre saintC religion, et qui lendent evidcmment a opprimer et iX 
 asservir TEglise de Jesus-Christ ; cjue, par consequent, il ne pent 
 etre permis aux fideles Catholiqucs de s'engager par serment h les 
 observer et h les maintenir. 
 
 " Le Prince t Maurice de Broglie, Eveque de Grand, 
 "t Charles Francois Joseph Pisani de la Gaude, 
 
 Eveque de Namur. 
 " t F^RANCois Joseph, Eveque de Tournay. 
 "J'adhere au jugement doctrinal ci-dessus port^ par Mes- 
 seigneurs les Eveques du Royaume de Pays-Bas. 
 
 "J. ForGEUR, Vicaire-General, de TArcheveche de Ma- 
 lines. 
 ** J'y adhere egalement. 
 
 " J. A. Barrett, Vicaire-General, cap. de Liege,' 
 
 .A » 
 
64 ULTRAMONTANISM IN BKLGIUM. 
 
 Voici done un fait qui proiive que, de nos jours encore, 
 I'Eglise peut faire refuser k un peuple les libcrtds les plus neces- 
 saires. 
 
 A peine la Constitution de 1830 eut-elle consacrd en lielgique, 
 avec le concours des Catholiques libdraux, les principes con- 
 damnds en 1815 par I'Episcopat, que le Pape les foudroya dans 
 sa fameuse Encyclique de 1832. 
 
 On ne pout nier que I'Eiglise condamne, par exemple, la 
 libertd de conscience. Ecotons sur ce point Bossuet, dont 
 I'autorite ne sera pas suspecte, car dans I'ccrit dont je vais citer 
 un passage il reclamait une certaine tolerance pour les Protes- 
 tants : — 
 
 '' Je declare (dit-il) que je suis et que j'ai toujours ete du senti- 
 ment, premiferement, que les princes puevcnt cnntraindre par 
 des lois penales tons les heretiques a se conformer h la profession 
 et aux pratiques de I'l^glise Catholiquc. Dcuxiemement, que 
 cette doctrine doit passer pour constante dans I'Eglise, qui non- 
 seulement a suivi, niais encore deniande de semblables ordon- 
 nances des princes. En etablissant ces maximes comme con- 
 stantes et incontestablcs parmi les Catholiques," etc. 
 
 Si done les Catholit[ues disposes 11 obeir aux decisions du Pape 
 deviennent un jour les maitres en Belgique, ils supprimeront la 
 libertd. Les journaux des Evoqucs ne le nient plus depuis 
 qu'ils espercnt voir leur parti restcr au pouvoir. 
 
 Chaque fois que le Pape actuel a conclu un Concordat avec un 
 gouvernement pret h lui obdir, il a stipule I'intolcrance absolue k 
 regard des dissidents. Comme type de ces Concordats je citerai 
 celui conclu le 22 Avril 1863, avec la Republique de I'Equateur, 
 dont I'Article I. porte : — 
 
 " La religion Catholiquc, Apostolicjue et Romaine continue 
 d'etre la religion de la Republique de l'P2quateur. En conse- 
 quence, on ne pourra jamais permettre dans la Republique Tex- 
 creice d'aucun culte ni I'existence d aucune societe qui auraient 
 6\.4 condamnes par I'Eglise." 
 
 Quand le Pape actuel stipule que tout Protestant, tout franc- 
 nia9on sera inexorablement proscrit d'un Etat, Lord Arundell 
 peut-il dire que " no Pope has trenched upon the political 
 ground ?" 
 
 Supposez rirlande separeedc FAngleterre et gouvernee par des 
 vrais Ultramontains, ceux-ci seraient tenus de faire un Concor- 
 dat semblable h celui de I'Equateur. N'est-ce pas ainsi que les 
 derniers Protestants ont ete expulses du Tyrol ? 
 
 Recevez, Monsieur, &c,, 
 
 EMILE DE LAVELEYE 
 
NEARLY READY. 
 
 
 "•«»- 
 
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