the papal conquest

I CATTOLICI ALLA CONQUISTA DELL'INGHILTERRA.(The Catholics to tIle Conquest of England.)

r. I 'I

U "II IIu "-.I• -,•1 IIm. •••1 •••1 IBn

.. L'INGHILTERRA PROTESTANTE E TROPPO FORTE PER TEMEREIL CATTOLICISMO,"-DAL TIMES.

(" Protestant England is too strung tolear Catholicism," -The Times.]

E JOHN BULL CONTINUA A DORMIRE , , , IN QUESTA ILLUSIONE 01 FORZAI..,(And John Bull continues to sleep, .. in this illusion of sirmllih /)

THE

PAPAL CONQUESTITALY'S WARNING-

H WAKE UP, JOHN BULL!"

BY

REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTSO , D.D.OAVALIERE OF TEE ORDER OF ST. MAURIOE

AND ST. LAZARUS, ITALY

.Author 0/"THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ITALY"

"THE BIBLE OJ' ST. MARK" "l'ENETfAN SERMONS""j'RA PAOLO SARn" ere. tic •

..He that taketh warning shall deliver his soul."-Ezek. xxxiii. 5.

LONDON: MORGAN AND SCOTT LTD.12, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.

MCMIX

All rights reserved

era MY WIFE

PREFACE

ALTHOUGH a young nation, Italy is yet oneof England's oldest and most faithful friends;and England is not only Italy's oldest friend

(in 1849 she had no other in Europe), but she is theonly one that has never done her any harm. Othernations may have done her good. France renderedher invaluable service in 1859 in helping her todrive the Austrians out of Lombardy; but, byconcluding a hasty peace at Villafranca, and by theoccupation of Rome till 1870, she did her a grievouswrong. Italy and England are thus united, as areno other nations, in a friendship, sincere and warm,unchequered and unclouded.

Italy and England are also united in a verydifferent way. They are the objects of the mostimplacable hatred on the part of the Roman CatholicChurch. Mr. Richard Bagot, himself a RomanCatholic, writing in the National Review at thetime of the Boer War, on Anglophobia at the Vatican,said: "It is a curious coincidence that the singlefriendly nation (Italy) should be also the one towhich the Vatican is most unfriendly, and it is

Vll

viu PREFACE

a coincidence that should not pass altogetherunobserved."

Italy, thus so singularly in unison with England,views with sorrow and alarm the efforts now beingput forth by their common enemy, the Papal Church,to destroy her-a sorrow and alarm intensified byher indifference to her peril. As England's friend,and knowing by long and bitter experience thedeadly mischief the Papal Church can work amongsta people under the mask of religion, Italy has notfailed again and again to raise her voice to warnEngland of her danger, although hitherto with butlittle effect. In the hope of helping her warning tobe heard, I have taken it up in these pages-enforcing it by facts drawn from Italian historywhich is one unbroken testimony to the anti-national character and deleterious influence of thePapal Church.

I have also given prominence to another fact,well known to Italy, but about which, for diplomaticreasons, she has to be silent. It forms anotherelement of oneness between the two nations. Mr.Gladstone speaks of "the venomous ambition ofCurialism, determined to try another fall beforerenouncing its dream of temporal dominion." Ihave shown, on the testimony of many witnesses,that this Temporal Dominion is the great objectsought by the Church; that to its recovery Englandalone blocks the way; and that, therefore, as Mr.Bagot has further said, "the political influence of

PREFACE IX

the Roman Ouria ... is working, as it ever has,and ever will work, to promote and encompass thehumiliation of England." And now, in the eyes ofthe Ohurch, these ceaseless efforts of the RomanCuria are about to be crowned with success. Havingchosen well her instruments, and having bound themfirmly to her policy, the Church believes that theobject which for thirty-nine years she has pursued,without pause and without deviation, is nowwithin her reach. Should her belief prove true,should her hopes be realized, then, with the humilia-tion of England, will come also the humiliation ofItaly, the two nations bound together in uniquebonds of friendship, and of Papal enmity, will beunited also in a common destiny. Old Englandand Young Italy will fall together.

While this book was passing through the press,Mr. M'Cebe's work, The Decay of the Church ofRome, was published. As he gives most valuablestatistics, which prove that the Ohurch is numeri-cally losing ground throughout the world, and asthese confirm and supplement very forcibly whatI have said of her moral and financial bankruptcyin Italy, and other Oontinental nations, I havequoted some of them in an Appendix, as it was un-fortunately too late to make use of them in my text.

My illustrations are taken from the Asino-apaper which exists in Italy for the express purposeof vindicating Ohrist and Christianity from the vilecaricature of both presented by the Papal Church.

x PREFACE

Its purpose is well set forth in one of its recentcartoons, which shows Christ stroking the head ofan Ass, and saying: "I thank thee, mine Ass.Once in Egypt thou savedst my life, now in Italythou savest mine honour."

There is another point of union which I earnestlydesire to see established between England and Italy,and which I trust this book may help to forward.I desire to see England regarding the Roman CatholicChurch from Italy'a standpoint, and taking suchmeasures as Italy has taken to safeguard her well-being, and her very life, against her insidious attacks.Then, and not till then, I believe, throughout theEmpire will real religious freedom for all, such asobtains in Italy, be secured; then, and not till then,will those Papal elements of intellectual and moraldebasement, which are destroying the higher lifeof the individual, the family, and the State, beremoved; then, we may hope, with a return to thepure Gospel of Christ, and to sound ProtestantReformation principles, will the sun of prosperity,even the Sun of Righteousness, which is beginningto shine in Italy, as God's Word is being read by thepeople, once more shine, as in days gone by, in fulleffulgence of glory in our own beloved land.

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.

CA' STUUAN, VENICE,

Nov. 1909.

CONTENTS

I

CONQUEST DETERMINED UPON

John Bull asleep-Italy's warning call-CardinalManning's call to Conquest-Gladstone's call toarms-England ecclesiastically seized in 1850by Pius IX.-Now given to Mary as her Dowry-Protestant oaths of Civil Servants of theCrown rendered useless-i-Catholics in Englandnow fighting under Pius V.-His massacringof Protestants, and attempted assassinationof Queen Elizabeth-The Brompton Oratoryprayer-The Reformation to be stamped out-Weapons of Papal warfare-Macaulay on theJ acobin prayer of r690 . r

II

BANKRUPTCY AN IMPELLING CAUSE

PiusIX:sflightto Gaeta in r848-Bomba'sfriendship-i-Pope's return to Rome in r850-Received nowelcome-Church morally and materially bank-rupt-H ence Conquest of England decidedupon-Loss of Temporal Power ~nai1timpelling cause 20

Xl

xu CONTENTS

III

THE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN ITALYPAGK

A Confederation of Italian States-First favoured thenopposed by Pius IX.-King Victor Emmanuelholds out to him the Golden Sceptre-Non possi-mus-Pope's ludicrous preparation for defence ofRome-Fall of Temporal Power-Loss of MoralPower preceded it-Testimony of Count Cavour,Baron Ricasoli, of the M arquis Massimod'Azeglio, and of Dr. Arnold-The atrocities ofPiusI x.- Themassacre ofPerugia-Swinburne'slines-Pope's inhumanities-Punch's definitionof the Church-Church criminality unchanged-Incites to rebellion-Pius IX. the" assassin ofItaly" -Church retains only dregs of Italy'spopulation-Attendances in Churches explained-Civil marriages and funerals-Monumentsto Italian heretics 28

IVTHE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN FRANCE AND

IN OTHER CONTINENTAL NATIONS

France once asleep like John Bull-Clerical partyruled - Religious Congregations conspired-Combes' policy of dejence-i-Congregations sup-pressed-Church separated from the State-The Pope Combes' ally-Government measuresnot persecuting-Testimony of The Times-France lost to the Church-Austrian persecutions-Visit of King Humbert to the Emperor not re-turned-Gladstone's indictment in Midlothian--Austria a Papal slave-The Los von Rom move-ment - Three-fourths 01 population nominal

CONTENTS Xlll

PAGECatholics-Protestant Churches increase-Mon-astic Institutions controlled by State-Thoughmany drawbacks Light spreads-Condition atGermany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium - Peter'sPence diminishes 50

V

ENGLISH GOLD TO FILL EMYl'Y COFFERS

John Bull a tempting victim-Gold the Church'sgreatest god-Selling Christ tor three halt-pence-CuPidity at priests at Funerals-Testimony ofMassimo d'Azeglio-Prices oi funerals-Goldexplains Saints and Saints' Days-Joan at Arcand Clement HautJbauer-Sin and money-Dyingpeople robbed and strangled-Sources of Gainstopped -Dickens and Purgatorial shrines-Masses a drug on the market-Empty moneychests-The rich hunted up in England-Testi-mony of Gladstone and Dr. Arnold-A matri-monial agency - Nuns' schools - Policy ofplunder in Ireland-Reformatory and IndustrialSchools-Old Age Pensions-Homes of the GoodShepherd-Sweaters' dens-Testimony of SirGodfrey Lushington and Mr. Maxse-Priestscreate Irish poverty-Testimony of MichaelM'Carthy-Death-bed terrorism-Hopes otplunder in Great Britain-A "Golden river ayard deep " 7°

VITHE ARMY OF INVASION

The Spanish Invasion of 1588-To be repeated-Priests imported now as then to prepare for it-

XIV CONTENTSPAGE

Increase of Monastic Orders-The Pope's army-Dr. Adam Smith's description of it-United,but not as Protestants are-Work in secret-Testimony of Sir Godfrey Lushington-Churchacquiring property - In Channel I slands-Opinion of Mr. David Williamson-Suppressionof monasteries in Italy-Church a tenant at will-The Pope in furnished apartments-" Chivalryrun mad" - Italy reads England a lesson-Garibaldi and the ]esuits- The Pope's armybilleted on England 98

VII

A DENATIONALIZED ARMY

Religious mission of army a sham-As in Q14eenElizabeth's time-As amongst the I ndians- WhatWashington Irving tells-Viscount Esher andSir G. Wh~te on Patriotism-Disloyalty ofCatholics-Of foreign imported Catholics-Ofnative Catholics-Church interests come {irst-APapal peer-Patriotism dead-A denationalizedPope and army . II7

VIII

THE ARMY IN THE FIELD

Open hostility-A State within a State-What wassaid by Lecky, Gladstone, Manning, Hodge,Bovio, Punch-Priests enemies of country-The"Eternal Enemy" -Laws of Country versusLaws of Church-The Syllabus-Bishop's oath-Pope's army to the Conquest of England • 127

CONTENTS xv

IXTHE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN

PAGEShearing John Bull's locks-Work of Papal army-

Assault on "Town of Mansoul "-Church aSatanic agency-Trades on human weakness andfolly-And on England's guilelessness-Influ-ence of Catholicism deleterious-Shown in stateof European countries-Depreciation of Dublinproperty-State of Rome before 187o-Saint Ex-pedite-Rebuilding oi shrines ot imposture 140

XPROMOTING INTELLECTUAL DETEIUOH.ATION

Church's claim over mind-Index Expurgatorius-Published by Council ot Trent-Papal Govern-ment's one daily newspaper-Pope and M odern-ism - Reading of Bible forbidden-Lasserre'sGospels-Society of St. Jerome's Gospels andActs-Bibles burned-Revision of Vulgate-ThePope and Protestant Bibles-Religious teachingin Public Schools in Italy-Bibles scarce in Ire-land-Church represses thought-Dr. Westcottand Baron Ricasoli on thought. 154

XIPROMOTING MORAL DETERIORATION

Destroying the Moral Sense-Laws of Church versusmorallaws-An Italian Judge-Pope's "Chris-tian Doctrine" - Papists' breach of faith-The Pope and Malta-Manning's " bond ofunion" - Duty - Superstition - Robertson of

"'.. Brighton on Superstition - Indulgences - Dis-

XVI CONTENTSPAGE

pensations - Corrupt Peru priests-Moral de-generacy oi Newman and Manning-Testimonyo] Froude and Gladstone-Pre-Reformation Pro-testants-Intellectually England first and Irelandlast-Self-indulgence traded upon-Church andtheatres-Ireland and Sport-Encouraged byRoman Catholic Church in England-Catholicschools-Their text-books-Their spy system-Church a demoralizing agency I72

XIIPROMOTING FAMILY DETERIORATION

Cburcb Enemy of family life-Celibacy mark of anApostate Church - Profligacy of priests - De-moralized by Liguori-Priests in England beforeReformation-Priests in Italy before I870-Influence of English women in Rome-ItalianProtestant Statesmen-Priests in Italy ostracised-Family life saved-Family life demoralizedin England-" Home" meaningless to a priest-A Vicar's letter-Rebellious children-Capturing silly women-The ] esuit in thefamily - Lord Erne and Archbishop Tait-Schoolboys tampered with - Unnatural mothers-Evils of Convent Schools-No faith kept with~~s. ~

XIIIHOODWINKING PROTESTANT TRAVELLERS

IN ROMEHow travellers were treated in Rome before I870-No

Protestant Church-Intolerance-Now Englishtravellers courted-Snares spread-Papal audi-

CONTENTS XVII

PAGEences-i-Pope uneducated-Of kindly disposition-Makes much of his visitors-British blue-jackets-Pope conceals cloven foot-Priests con-tinue the Pope's propaganda-Travellers wrongItaly-Where the Pope should be sent to . • 222

XIVTHE EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION DEVICE

Italy's warning-Host procession Roman Liberalia--Cardinals Vanutelli and Becket-Bacchanaliancharacter of Westminster procession-EucharisticCongress at Venice-Riot and drunkenness-Processions acts of Pagan worship-Doctrine ofTransubstantiation-Made Papal dogma-Sup-ported by Bolsena miracle-Supported by Atro-cities-Alva's Council of Blood-Why madecentral doctrine of Catholic faith-Exaltation ofpriest-His power over his victim-Guilty of blas-phemy and profanity-Mass a source of gain-Host processions forbidden in Italy-That atGenoa broken up - Ambition of the RomanCatholic Church in England 236

XVCAPTURING THE ENGLISH PRESS

Press annexed by the Church-The Pope's newspaper-Its size and contents-Account of it in Con-temporary Review-Benigni's policy and power-Mr. Hocking's protest-Dr. Horton's protest inDaily News-Catholic editors-Catholic reviewsof books-Staars' Soul of Women-The wor-shiP of Mary demoralizing-Defective biographiespublished-Attempts to strangle anti-Catholicbooks-Novels in praise of Monasticism-

b

XVlll CONTENTS

School histories falsified-Catholic tracts andpamphlets-Free speech endangered 264

PAGE

XVITHE ROMAN CATHOUC DISABILITIES

(REMOVAL) BILLRoman Catholic Church not a religious institution-

Claims power over State-Text-books teachmurder of heretics - Repressive measuresnecessary-Not a question of Religion-Churchimposing Disabilities on State-Despotism ofChurch in Italy-Easter Communion-Ecclesi-astical Courts-Church sanctum for criminals- Testimony of Massimo d'Azeglio-Church andmarriage-Monasteries - Education-Brioschi' sreport on Church education-Physicians-Wills-Shaving-Church claims would be enforced inEngland-Proved by the Persecutions at Liver-pool and M otherwell-Character of Bill-Altera-tion of Royal Declaration-Protestant safeguardsremoved-A Roman Catholic Sovereign-Thisdisavowed-Reason for doubting disavowal-Queen Mary III.-Oaths broken-Destructionof Protestant Succession avowed-Goal aimed atthe Throne 285

XVIITHE MILITARY INVASION

The Hague Conference-Dr. Andrew White- Vaticana storm-centre-War for recovery of TemporalPower-Testimony of Bonghi, Crispi, Gladstone,and Manning-Opportunity arrived-Englandblocks the way-Military Invasion preparing-Austria Italy's" Eternal Enemy" - Germanythe Vatican's agent-Kaiser's dislike of England

CONTENTS XIXPAGE

-His love for the Pope-His visit to Rome in1903-Indignation of Romans-Vatican eggingon Germany to invade England-A nd A ustria toinvade Italy - 19II - 1912 date chosen forInvasion-Why chosen-Lord Roberts' warning-England's humiliation. involves that of Italy 313

XVIIIMEASURES OF DEFENCE AND REFORM

Measures to meet Military Invasion-To meetPapal Invasion-This latter ignored-Muchmore disastrous - Defence against unjustinvasion elevates a people - Italians madeheroes by fighting for freedom-Ruskin onWar-Ravages by Papal army-Cry of intoler-ance-Disabilities are dejensive-s-Gtadstonc'sopinion-" A Free Church in a Free State"-Found to be untenable and unworkable byCavour-Isolated measures of defence-The NewPenal Code-Secures Liberty for all-Englandattacked by Roman Church as Italy was-De-fensive measures imperative-England mustreform-Opinions of Colonial ] ournalists-Pasolini on devotion to Sport-Neglect of Bible-Opinion of Ruskin, Westcott, Vaughan-Protest-ants saved England in Sixteenth Century-Dale onProtestantism-Roman Catholic Church adaptedfor the unconverted-Only such enter it- Viewsof Gladstone-Gospel the sale remedy-Appealto Parents and Evangelists-To Biblical Scholarsand Teachers-To Britons generally-Lesson ofpresent difficult times-A n A dvent call to awaken 331

ApPENDIX 358INDEX . 363

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

JOHN BULL ASLEEP.

THE MASSACRE OF PERUGIA

THE EXAMPLE OF FRANCE.

THE DEN

THE SCHOOL OF THE PRIESTS

THE SNARES OF THE CONFESSIONAL

LAST HOPES FOR THE TEMPORAL POWER

LIBERTY ACCORDING TO THE PRIESTS

. Frontispiece

. Facing p. 38

"

54

96

156

200

320

336

,.

"

"

xx

THE PAPAL CONQUEST

I

Conquest Determined Upon

"Break his bands of sleep asunder,And rouse him like a rattJJng peal of thunder."

-DRYDEN. Alexander's Feast .

.. Wake up, England!"-PRINCE OF WALES. Speech at Mansion House.

INthe issue of October 4, 1908, of the Asino, aclever Italian illustrated paper, published inRome, England is represented under the well-

known figure of JOHN BULL, with the traditionalbroad-brimmed hat, red coat, capacious waistcoat,and pockets well stuffed with gold. He is depictedas a giant, the embodiment of strength. But JohnBull is asleep, and his slumber is profound. Takingadvantage of his condition, a very army of priestsand monks, led by bishops and the Pope, areassailing him. They are represented as pigmies in

I

2 THE PAPAL CONQUEST

comparison with him. The tallest of them is nothalf the size of his shoe, not much thicker than hislittle finger. But they swarm to the assault, andare all working with a will to master him. Theyhave driven stakes into the ground, and are busyfixing cords to them, and winding them aroundhis feet and legs. They have thrown them over thebuttons of his coat and waistcoat, and by means ofthem are climbing up on his body. Some havereached his pockets and are emptying them of hisgold, which others are carrying away in wheel-barrows. A few are standing on his shoulder, andhave stretched cords across his mouth and over hiseyes, and have passed their ends up into the righthand of the Pope, who, with the tiara on his head andhis pastoral staff in his left hand, sits on the top ofJohn Bull's head. In the background is seen theEucharistic Procession winding through the streetsof Westminster, the priests, in their vestments,bearing aloft their crosses and banners, on one ofwhich are inscribed the words, Viva il Papa. Thetitle of the cartoon is, "THE CATHOLICSTO THECONQUESTOF ENGLAND." Below, there is thefollowing quotation from The Times, as indicatingJohn Bull's frame of mind: "PROTESTANTENGLANDIS TOOSTRONGTO FEAR CATHOLICISM"; and thereis also inscribed the Asino's comment on this, " ANDSOJOHNBULLCONTINUESTOSLEEP,IN THISILLUSIONOFSTRENGTH."

This cartoon is only one of many proofs Imight

CONQUEST DETERMINIW UPON

adduce from Italian journalism to show that ifEngland believes that she has nothing to fear atthe hands of the Roman Catholic Church, Italythinks otherwise. Italy believes England's perilto be very great and very near, and Italy knowswhat she is talking about. If any nation under-stands what the Roman Catholic Church is, andwhat she seeks, it is Italy; for she has had, to hercost, a closer and longer contact with her than anyother nation in the world. She has had the Churchof Rome centred in her midst for centuries, and evennow her Chief and his staff have their headquartersin her Capital. She still "carries with her, nestlingin her bosom, the 'standing menace' of the l'opcdom."lAnd if any nation has the right to warn us ofour national peril it is Italy; for she has alwaysbeen our faithful friend, cherishing towards us, notonly feelings of admiration and affection, due, asCavour said, "to one of the greatest peoples . . . anation that has continually promoted the moral andmaterial progress of the world,"" but also feelingsof gratitude for what we did in helping her inher struggle for national independence and unity-feelings which King Victor Emmanuel II. expressed inthe first Italian Parliament in Turin, on February 18,1861, when he said: "The Government and people ofEngland-that ancient home of liberty-have stoutlyaffirmed our right to be the arbiters of our destinies;

1 Gladstone to Lord Granville, January 13, 1889.2 The Life of CavO'Ur, by Edward Cadogan, p. 30.

4 THE PAPAL OONQUEST

and of that ready sympathy, so freely bestowed, weshall always cherish a grateful memory." 1

Italy, then, our old and trusty friend, solemnlywarns us that it is the Conquest of England that theRoman Catholic Church seeks. She has set herselfin earnest to carry out the task which CardinalManning pressed upon his clergy as their specialbusiness in the well-known words: "It is yours,right reverend fathers, to subjugate and to subdue,to bend and to break the will of an imperial race,the will which, as the will of Rome of old, rules overnations and peoples, invincible and inflexible. . . .You have a great commission to fulfil, and great isthe prize for which you strive. Surely a soldier'seye and a soldier's heart would choose by intuitionthis field of England for the warfare of the Faith." 2

It wants, as the cartoon shows, to set the Pope onJohn Bull's head.

One's first impulse, on hearing of such a scheme,is to set it aside as a thing incredible and impossible,and unworthy even of serious consideration. Im-possible it ought to be, and yet, impossible it maynot be, if Protestant England, thinking herself "toostrong to fear Catholicism," "continues to sleepin this illusion of strength." An organisation likethe Roman Catholic Church, so powerful, so vast,so cunning, so unscrupulous, hesitating at nothing

1 Modern Ita.ly, by Pietro Orsi, p. 284.2 Sermons 011 Ecclesiastical Subjects, by Cardinal Manning, vol. i.

pp. 166, 167.

CONQUEST DETERMINED UPON 5

in the pursuance of her aims; and yet so specious,so fair-spoken and so insidious, is not an enemy tobe despised.

Mr. Gladstone did not think she was an enemyto be despised when he wrote his first famouspamphlet, The Vatican Decrees: for he tells us inhis second pamphlet, Vaticanism (called forth in itsdefence against his critics, Newman, Manning, andothers), that his very object in writing it was to putEngland on her guard against the Roman CatholicChurch. He says: "My object has been to produce,if possible, a temper of greater watchfulness ; topromote the early and provident fear which, saysMr. Burke, is the mother of necessity; to distrustthat lazy way of thought, which acknowledges nodanger until it thunders at the doors; to warn mycountrymen against the velvet paw, and smooth andsoft exterior of a system which is dangerous to thefoundations of civil order, and which anyone of usmay at any time encounter in his daily path." 1

In his Introduction to this second pamphlet(Vaticanism), Mr. Gladstone says: "It is, in myopinion, an entire mistake to suppose that theorieslike those, of which Rome is the centre, are notoperative on the thoughts and actions of men.An army of teachers, the largest and the mostcompact in the world, is ever sedulously at work tobring them into practice. Within our own timethey have most powerfully, as well as most

1 Vaticauiem, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 117.


injuriously, altered the spirit and feeling of theRoman Church at large; and it will be strangeindeed if, having done so much in the last halfcentury, they shall effect nothing in the next. Imust avow, then, that I do not feel the same securityfor the future as for the present .... Nor can Iover-look indications which lead to the belief that evenin this country and at this time, the proceedings ofVaticanism threaten to be a source of some practicalinconvenience. I am confident that if a system soradically bad is to be made or kept innocuous,the first condition for attaining such a result isthat its movements should be carefully watched,and, above all, that the bases on which they workshould be faithfully and unflinchingly exposed." 1

The carrying out, then, of the Conquest ofEngland by the Roman Catholic Church may be,and ought to be, an impossibility; but that, as somethink, and others persistently say, it is incrediblethat the Church entertains, or has even conceivedsuch a scheme, is the very opposite of the truth.

Cardinal Manning, as we have seen, pressed thisscheme upon his clergy, but it did not originatewith him. Probably since the Catholic Dis-abilities Act of 1829 was passed, but certainly since1850, that is, a year before Manning's secession, itformed part of the fixed policy of the Church. InOctober of this latter year Pope Pius IX. issued a bullordering the establishment in England "of a

1 Vaticanism, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 16.


hierarchy of Bishops, deriving their titles from theirown sees." He thus audaciously claimed the rightto divide up England into Roman Catholic dioceses,and to give corresponding territorial titles to theirBishops. As a matter of fact, he appointed oneArchbishop, Cardinal Wiseman, and twelve Bishops.

Cardinal Wiseman on his way to take possessionof the Archiepiscopal See of Westminster issued thefollowing bombastic letter, not to his co-religionistsin England, but to the whole English people, datingit, too, in this offensive manner: "Given out of theFlaminian Gate of Rome." The letter ran as follows:"Your beloved country has received a place amongthe fair churches, which, normally constituted, formthe splendid aggregate of Catholic communion;Catholic England has been restored to its orbit inthe ecclesiastical firmament from which its light hadlong vanished; and begins now anew its course ofregularly-adjusted action round the centre of unity,the source of jurisdiction, of light, and of vigour." 1

Lord John Russell, in a letter to the Bishop ofDurham, November 4, 1850, expressed the mind ofEngland when he interpreted the Pope's bull andthe Cardinal's letter as "a pretension of supremacyover the realm of England, and a claim to sole andundivided sway, which is inconsistent with theQueen's supremacy, with the rights of our Bishopsand clergy, and with the spiritual independence ofthe nation as asserted even in the Roman Catholic

I A History of OUT Own Times, by Justin M'Carthy, vol. ii. p. 81.


times." 1 The Oonquest of England was thus, in1850, the avowed policy of the Roman OatholicChurch, and the country was ecclesiastically dividedup in preparation for it.

At that time, too, it may be recalled, a wide-spread Roman Catholic propaganda amongst Englishpeople was set on foot. This was carried on through-out all parts of England, but, I think, very especiallyamongst British travellers at pleasure and healthresorts in France and Italy. Members of my ownfamily, for example, have told me how, at Boulogne,Roman Oatholic women went about daily distributingleaflets bearing such titles as the following: TheConversion of England. The Return of Englandto the Catholic Fold. The British residents andvisitors laughed at them; but an order had gone outfrom the Vatican that all Catholics were to prayand labour for England's conversion (alias perversion),and it was being zealously obeyed.

And now, in anticipation of its realisation,England has been dedicated to the Madonna, and'it has been christened" Our Lady's Dowry"; anda Jesuit association of lay members, male and female,exists for the express purpose of making over thegift. This association is called The Sodality of theChildren of Mary, and it has guilds in scores ofplaces throughout Great Britain, each presided overby a local priest. All of these guilds are workingin concert for this common end. The securing of

1 A History of Our OWll Times, by Justin MCCarthy, vol. ii. p. 82.


England as "Our Lady's Dowry" sounds somewhatpoetical and harmless; but translated into plainlanguage it means part of the carrying out of thescheme of the Conquest of England, so as to placeit once more under the iron heel of the Church.

Many years after Manning'::; perversion, andwhen he had become, by what Pope Pius IX. ir-reverently called "the Lord's own coup d'etat,"Archbishop of Westminster, he no longer spoke ofthe Conquest of England as an object to be takenup by the Church, but boasted of the energy andactivity that was being shown in carrying on the enter-prise. He said: "At this period of our history thesupremacy of the Vicar of Jesus Christ re-enters asfull oflife as when Henry VIII. resisted Clement VII.,

and Elizabeth withstood St. Pius v. The undyingauthority of the Holy See is once more an activepower in England: the shadow of Peter has fallenagain upon it." 1

These boastful words were spoken by CardinalManning in 1868, and what he refers to is thefollowing. In that year he succeeded, under theDisraeli Government, then tottering to its fall, inchanging the form of oath which Privy Councillors,Cabinet Ministers, and others were required to takewhen assuming office under the Crown. Previousto 1868 they had to swear allegiance to the Sover-eign being Protestant; they had further to swear

1 Essays on Religion and Literature; second series, hy CardinalManning, p. 19.


that they recognized the Sovereign as the source ofall power, civil and ecclesiastical; and, lastly, theyhad to swear that they denied to the Pope any juris-diction, temporal or spiritual, within the realm. Asis apparent, they had really to take three oaths, anOath of Allegiance, an Oath of Supremacy, and anOath of Abjuration. What Cardinal Manning securedwas the abolition of the last two oaths; and further,the substitution in the first oath for the words, " Iswear allegiance to the Sovereign being Protestant,"the words, "I swear allegiance to the Sovereign bylaw established." 1

By these changes Roman Catholic servants of theCrown, of which, unhappily, there are far too many,are no longer required when taking office to abjurethe Pope, to acknowledge the Royal Supremacy, oreven to swear allegiance to the Sovereign beingProtestant. Protestant, of course, the Sovereignmust be by the Act of Settlement (necessitating histaking the Coronation oath and making the RoyalDeclaration), 'otherwise the throne is forfeited, andthe subjects are loosed from their allegiance; butCardinal Manning's action was taken in the hopethat one day even these safeguards of our Protestant-ism would be destroyed, and the way opened for aRoman Catholic Sovereign to sit upon the throne.That is part of the programme now determined uponfor the Conquest of England; and that is what isdirectly aimed at, as we shall by and by see, in Mr.

I 31 & 32 Viet. cap. 72, sec. il.


Redmond's Roman Catholic Disabilities (Removal)Bill, which proposes to make an alteration in theCoronation Oath and Royal Declaration, exactlysimilar to that which Cardinal Manning succeededin making in the Oath of Allegiance, even borrowinghis cunningly deceptive and empty clause, by lawestablished.

But I have quoted Cardinal Manning's words, notsimply to show that the Conquest of England wasthe fixed policy of the Church in his day, that itwas then being vigorously pursued, and that hewas proud of the part he had taken in it; but alsoto show that he darkly hints at the adoption ofdesperate means for securing its ultimate triumph.This he does by connecting the present strugglewith those that took place between the Churchand England in the times of King Henry VIII. andPope Clement VII., and between Queen Elizabethand Pope Pius v. and his followers and successors.Those engaged in the present Conquest of Englandhave not been slow to act upon his hints; for theyhave adopted Pope Pius v. as their warrior-saint,and are marching to battle under his protection,bearing in their hands his weapons, and apparentlyprepared to adopt his methods of warfare.

Let us now look at the character of Pope Pius v.and see how he conducted his struggle withEngland in Queen Elizabeth's day, during his briefpopedom from 1566 to 1572, which, however, coversa critical period of her reign.


He was all his life identified with the DominicanOrder and with the Inquisition, being at one timeInquisitor-General; in which connection he bore thebad pre-eminence of being its most cruel and blood-thirsty member, so that during his rule as Bishop,Cardinal, and Pope, its atrocities were greater thanduring any other period of its history.

It was he who effectually stamped out theReformation in Italy, by the simple process ofkilling, or driving into exile, every man, woman,and youth who embraced it. And it is quite remark-able how many Italians did embrace it, especiallyin the upper ranks of society, amongst the titlednobility. Before he became Pope, as Inquisitor-General, under the reigns of Paul IV. and Pius IV.,

his predecessors in the popedom, he had alreadyimbrued his hands in the blood of God's saints, forat his instigation hundreds had been tortured andmurdered. But it was on his elevation to thetiara that he entered upon the work of the ruthlessextermination of all Italians even suspected of havingembraced the Reformed Faith. Dr. M'Crie quotesThobius Eglinus, who from personal knowledge wasacquainted with the facts, as saying in 1568: "AtRome some are every day burned, hanged, orbeheaded; all the prisons and places of confinementare filled, and they are obliged to build new ones.That large city cannot provide gaols for the numberof pious persons who are continually apprehended.A distinguished person named Carnesecchi, formerly


Ambassador to the Duke of Tuscany, has beencommitted to the flames. Two persons of stillgreater distinction, Baron Bernardo di Angole, andCount Petiliano, a genuine and brave Roman, arein prison." 1 In the Papal States the same in-humanities were of daily occurrence.

Not content with inaugurating his pontificate bythe slaughter of God's saints in Italy, he at onceturned his attention to France; and before manymonths of his popedom had passed he had securedthe cancelling of the Royal decree tolerating theextra-mural services of the reformers, obtained thedismissal of de Coligny and many reforming bishops,and entered into a secret league with the King andthe Guises, to which Mary Stuart was a party, "forthe uprooting of thereformed faith out of France byfair means or foul." 2 These measures prepared theway and led up to the massacre of St. Bartholomew,which however he did not live to see, for themassacre took place on the night of August 24,1572, and he had died the preceding May.

The bull In Ccena Domini, which usurps therights of princes, and commands the exterminationof all heretics, although the work of several popes,is usually associated with Pius v., as it was he whoordered it to be read every Holy Thursday, thusassociating it with the Lord's Supper, and so givingit its name, In CeenaDomini.

1 History of the Reformation in Italy, by Dr. M'Crie, p. 272.2 The History of England, by J. A. Froude, vol. vii. p. 368.


He it was who blessed Mary Stuart, condonedall her crimes, and helped her in every intrigue andrebellion set on foot throughout England for theassassination of Queen Elizabeth, and the setting ofhis Catholic protegee upon the throne. It was hewho blackened Queen Elizabeth's character at theCourt of France, calling her a mulier libidinis, andwho, on February 25, 1570, excommunicated her bya bull in which he declared her " to be cut off as themonster of iniquity from the communion of thefaithful." 1 He released her subjects from their allegi-ance, and he forbade them, under pain of incurringthe same sentence as herself, to recognize her anylonger as their sovereign. And it was he who main-tained for long years, as his secret agent, RobertRidolfi, a Florentine banker, one of the most accom-plished villains in Europe, who planned for him theinfamous conspiracy known in English history as theRidolfi Plot, the object of which was the murder ofQueen Elizabeth; nor did he refuse his blessing,with money now and a high place in heavenhereafter, to any assassin who would undertaketo sheath his dagger in her breast. And it washe who, years before the Spanish Armada sailedfrom the Tagus for the invasion of England, urgedPhilip II. to that enterprise, and on one occasion,whilst inflamed with wine at dinner, became sofurious at the king's delay, that he flung the dinnerplates and dishes at his servants' heads, and

1 The HiltOTY of England, by J. A. Froude, vol. ix. p. 228.


threatened to send some of them, where he had sentmany an obnoxious guest, down the trap-dooroubliette, that opened from his dining-room floor inthe Castle of St. Angelo into a drain communicatingwith the Tiber; which oubliette is still existing, for itwas shown to me not long ago, and I looked downanother in this same castle.

Such, then, was Cardinal Manning's "Saint";and now for the way in which he has been adoptedby the soldiers of the army of invasion.

In the Brompton Oratory, in the Chapel of Mary,who is, of course, the goddess of the place, there is amagnificent marble altar, decorated with a series offigures of saints. All of these belong to the Domini-can Order, the Order that more than any other wasidentified with the imprisonments, tortures, andburnings of the Inquisition. St. Dominic himself isthere with his dog and flaming torch, symbolical ofthe way he and his Order worried and burned allChristians on whom they could lay their hands. Butin a place of honour, on the base of the altar, is thestatue of Pope Pius v. Before it Roman Catholicsare requested to offer up the following prayer;-

"0 God, Who for crushing the enemies of ThyChurch, and for the reparation of Diuine worship,didst deign to choose blessed Pius as pope, grantthat we may be defended by his protection, and mayso follow Thy commands, that we may uanquishthe treachery of all our enemies, and rejoice withThee in euerlasting peace, through our Lord."I

1 Letters on the ChuTch of Rome, by Chr. Wordsworth, D.D. Letter xii,


This prayer has been printed in tens of thousands,and. is, I believe, in the hands of most RomanCatholics in England. It can be procured atRoman Catholic book-shops, and in the sacristies ofmany Roman Catholic churches. Not only so, but,like the leaflets for the Conversion of England,issued in 1850, of which I have already spoken,this prayer has been sent to the Continent fordistribution amongst English travellers in all placesthey frequent. It is given to them by the priests,monks, and nuns of the churches and monasticinstitutions they visit in their sight-seeing. Agentleman has just told me that, when visitingthe Franciscan monastery at Assisi, he receivedone from a monk, whom we may regard as anagent of the late Marquis of Ripon, who owned themonastery, all the inmates of which were registeredas his servants, as otherwise they would have beendispersed by Italian law. In Rome, copies of theprayer are circulated amongst those who go to seethe Pope, or who frequent the pageants at theVatican, and the ceremonies held in the churches;whilst the British Roman Catholic hotel and pension-keepers (of whom the Church has planted quite acontingent in the city), never lose an opportunityof giving them to their guests.

Setting aside the preposterous statement of theprayer that God chose for the defence of His Church,and" the reparation of Divine worship," such an in-human monster as Pope Pius v., is it not ominous that


in connection with the Conquest of England, this Popeshould have been singled out by Cardinal Manning;that of all the saints in the Papal Calendar heshould hold a place of honour on Mary's altar in theBrompton Oratory; and that the soldiers of theRoman Catholic army engaged in the subjugation ofEngland should be requested to pray before hisstatue that they might enjoy his protection, whilstengaged in his work of vanquishing their enemies?Further, is it not significant that with him shouldbe associated St. Dominic, and other prominentDominicans, all, like himself, sanguinary Inquisitors,whose lives were spent in exterminating, with everyform of cruelty, God's children? And all this is inthe Chapel of Mary, to whom England has beendevoted as her " dowry" !

I think that these things tell us, as I havealready said, that, just as the stamping out of theReformation was the fixed purpose of the RomanCatholic Church under Pope Pius v., so it is thefixed purpose of the Roman Catholic Church to-day; and as the efforts of that Pope were speciallydirected against it in England, so the Church is mar-shalling again for that purpose her forces in our land.They tell us, further, that in the carrying on ofthis Conquest, the Church does not mean to be overscrupulous as to the methods she may adopt, or theweapons she may employ. She has entered upon it inthe spirit of that Pope whom the Roman Catholics inEngland have chosen as their champion, and it is

2


being pursued under his protection, and accordingto his methods, so far as the times permit, even tothe setting up of the Inquisition, and the calling inof a foreign army tv its aid! 'l'hey tell us that, asMr. Gladstone informed us long ago, the RomanCatholic Ohurch, for the Conquest of England, "hasrefurbished and paraded anew every rusty tool shewas fondly thought to have disused," 1 to which, nodoubt, will be added every other weapon she can layher hands on, better adapted for modern warfare.

I cannot but recall in this connection the prayerconcocted by the Jacobite Roman Oatholic hierarchyin 1690, for the dethronement of William and Mary,the destruction of Protestantism, and the restora-tion of James II. and the Catholic faith, copies ofwhich were also scattered broadcast throughout theland, and made use of in the Roman Catholicchurches. I t, like this modern one, made referenceto "the treachery" of the enemies of the Church,and contained petitions for their being "crushed,"and for" the reparation of Divine worship." LordMacaulay says: "There was something very like aprayer for another Bloody Circuit: 'Give the Kingthe necks of his enemies'; there was something verylike a prayer for a French invasion: 'Raise himup friends abroad'; and there was a more mysteriousprayer, the best comment on which was afterwardsfurnished by the Assassination Plot: 'Do some greatthing for him, which we in particular know not how

1 The Va.tica.n Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, Proposition II.

CONQUESTDETERMINEDUPON 19

to pray for.''' 1 This Roman Catholic Jacobin prayerof 1690 looks very like the prototype of the Bromp-ton Oratory one of to-day.

Lord Macaulay further tells us that the Jacobinprayer "did not attract general notice till the appear-ance of a foreign armament on our coast had rousedthe national spirit. Then rose a roar of indignationagainst the Englishmen who had dared, under thehypocritical pretence of devotion, to imprecate curseson England." 2

Let us learn the lesson which history teaches us.Let us not wait "till the appearance of a foreignarmament on our coast" rouses the national spirit!Let that spirit arouse itself now! Our peril is asimminent and as great as it was in 1690! TheItalian cartoon gives us a timely warning. ThePhilistines be upon thee, JOHN BULL! WAKE UP,ENGLAND!

1 The History of England, by Macaulay, vol. v. ch. xvi. p. 292.2 Idem, vol. v, ch. xvi, p. 292.

II

Bankruptcy an Impelling Cause

II The Roman Catholic Church amongst the Latinraces is steadily and rapidly losing groundand influence."

-D. WILLIAMSON. Our Latest Invasion.

ONE of the reasons, probably the chief one,that moved Pope Pius IX., in 1850, to takeecclesiastical possession of England, with a

view to further conquest, was the state of moraland material bankruptcy in which the Church wasinvolved at that time. The revolution of 1848,which shook the thrones of all the despots in Europe,toppled over into the dust those of every ruler inItaly except that of Charles Albert of Piedmont-the Pope's going down amongst the rest.

As the Pope persistently refused to grant a Con-stitution, and would not follow the advice of thefew honest and able liberal ministers, Minghetti,Pasolini, and Farini, who still stood by him, theRoman populace chose their own leaders, andbesieged the Quirinal Palace, which was then thePapal residence.' They planted cannon in front of

I Guiseppe Pasolini Memorie Racolte da 8UO Figlio, p. 149.1IO

BANKRUPTCY AN IMPELLING CAUSE 21

it, set fire to one of the gates, and fired shots intothe Pope's private apartment, killing a MonsignorPalma who happened to go to a window. PioNono, always vacillating and insincere, temporizedfor a few days, and then made up his mind to seeksafety in flight. On the evening of November 25,1848, as darkness set in, disguised as a commonpriest, "with a large broad-brimmed hat," andhaving "round his neck Pius the Sixth's locket,taking care that there should be within it a morselof the consecrated wafer,"! he slipped down a servant'sstaircase, and left the palace. The carriage of theCountess Spaur, wife of the Bavarian minister, waswaiting for him, and in it he drove, along the oldAppian Way and the Terracina road, ninety miles toGaeta, in Neapolitan territory. Rumour says thathe managed to get through the city gate by causingit to be believed that he was the tutor of CountSpaur's sons."

At Gaeta he remained a year and a half as theguest of Ferdinand II., better known in history asBomba, because, ruling by the bayonets of foreignmercenaries, as the Pope and all the petty princesin Italy did, he bombarded his own city of Messina,burning two-thirds of it, and giving up his subjectsto indiscriminate slaughter, in order to re-instatehimself as despot over them. It was this Bomba,whose government Mr. Gladstone, in July 1851,

1 Life of Pius IX., by T. Adolphus 'I'rollope, vol. i. p. 298.2 Guiseppe Pasolini Memorie Racolte da suo Figlio, p. 150.


denounced in his letters to Lord Aberdeen as "anoutrage upon religion, upon civilization, uponhumanity, and upon decency." Bomba was thecongenial bosom friend of the Pope!

Pope, priests, and lay Roman Catholics, theworld over, are never tired of asserting that theTemporal Power is necessary to the Pope, in orderthat he may be able to exercise freely his spiritualduties as head of the Church. Of course that state-ment is easily shown, on logical and historical grounds,to be completely erroneous; but I mention thesubject here because Pope Pius IX. himself, whilst atGaeta, confessed that the Temporal Power was not afurtherance, but a hindrance to him in the discharge ofhis spiritual functions. In a letter dated January 12,1849, Count Luigi Mastai wrote to the ex-ministerCount Pasolini these words about the Pope, hisuncle: "Egli dice che ora e Papa davvero, perchecdle sole cose spirituale pensa, ed al regno temporalepoca pensa " 1 (He says that now he feels himselfto be in reality Pope, because he thinks only ofspiritual things, and thinks little of his temporalkingdom).

Notwithstanding this candid avowal, however,the Pope not only asked Bomba to help him toreturn to Rome to regain the Temporal Power, buthe applied for assistance for this object to France,Spain, and Austria. The fact of the matter is thatthe Pope and the Curia Romana have no spiritual

I Guiseppe l'awlini Memorie Ilacolte da suo Figlio, p. 167.


mission at all. Any newspaper correspondent at theVatican can testify that all ecclesiastics within itswalls are engaged only and always in political intriguesand plots; to use the words of an eminent RomanCatholic diplomatist, to whom I shall have occasionto refer later on: "Their whole policy is based onstirring up hatred and promoting conflicts fromwhich they hope to draw worldly advantages."1

The Papal request was, of course, joyfully accededto by those Powers; and so Pius IX., under the pro-tection of their arms, and accompanied by Bombaas far as Epitaffio, at the Pontifical frontier, where hetook an affectionate farewell of him, embracing him,and thanking and blessing him, returned to theQuirinal, on April 15, 1850.

But the Pope returned to Rome a stranger amongsthis own. He received no welcome, no recognitioneven from the people. Between him and them agreat gulf was fixed. As Vincenzo Gioberti. theeminent philosopher and statesman, wrote, Gaeta"had raised an impassable barrier between prince andpeople." ThePope at once realized that without Frenchbaycnets in Rome, and Austrian bayonets throughoutthe Papal States, his government could neither be setup nor exist, when that was done, for a single day.The Papal treasury, too, was not only empty, butthe Pope had contracted enormous debts. As LuigiCarlo Farini said in a letter to Mr. Gladstone, afterthe Papal Government had been re-established:

1 Autobiography of Dr. Andrew D. White, vol. ii. p. 351.


"There is neither public nor private safety, no moralauthority, not a breath of liberty, the finances areruined, commerce and traffic at the very lowest ebb,two foreign armies, a permanent state of siege,atrocious acts of revenge, factions raging, universaldiscontent-such is the Papal Government." 1

It was that wretched condition of Church affairs-finances ruined and moral authority gone-thatinduced Pius IX. in 1850 to turn hungry eyes onwealthy England, and, as we saw in the formerchapter, to send Cardinal Wiseman and a dozenBishops to take territorial possession of it, withinstructions to govern in their different diocesesaccording to the provisions of Canon Law, thus estab-lishing an imperium in imperio. And it is the samecondition, aggravated a hundredfold, that moves theVatican to turn its "dinnerless face" to England to-day. In 1850 Church bankruptcy was chiefly con-fined to Italy, now it pervades the Catholic world.There is not a single Roman Catholic country inany quarter of the globe where the Church is in asatisfactory condition, where she is not, indeed, in adiscredited, declining, and even dying condition."

Such a state of things was bound to come sooneror later. For it is impossible that an organizationlike the Roman Catholic Church, which exploitshuman frailty and human credulity for her own

1 The Roman State, by Farini, translated by W. E. Gladstone, vol.iv. p. 328.

~ Appendix I.

BANKRUPTOY AN IMPELLING CAUSE 25

ambition, for her own lust of wealth and power,could go on for ever with success amongst thesame people in these days of universal education.One of two things was bound to come in thecourse of time. Either the people's wealth andthe people themselves would give way under hercrushing exactions and tyranny, when they wouldcease to be worth exploiting, which has come about

( in South America; or their eyes would be opened <\ to her fr~s and falsehoods, when they would stand )

aloof from her, as has happened in Italy, or wouldcast her out of their midst entirely, as they havedone in France.

This state of matters is well known at theVatican. It has been before the Curia Romanaagain and again for discussion and remedy. Andthe remedy which has been settled upon is tocarry out with energy and constancy the policy of1850, and conquer England. England is regardedas a prize, which, if secured, would go a long wayto redress the present state of things. It wouldto a certain extent rehabilitate the Ch.urch, pro-bably checking more or less her decay in Catholiccountries. It would open up to her" fresh woodsand pastures new," by the blow it would give toChristian Protestantism the world over; for theRoman Catholic Church believes Cardinal Manning'swords, when he said that England" is the head ofProtestantism, the centre of its movements, and thestronghold of its powers. Weakened in England,

~ -


it is paralyzed everywhere; conq~ed in E~and,it is conquered throughout the w.!2:'ld. Once over-thrown here, all is but a war of detail. All theroads of the whole world meet here in one point;and this point reached, the whole world lies opento the Church's will. It is the key to the wholeposition of modern error. England, once restoredto the Faith, becomes the Evangelist of the World." 1

Above all, the Conquest of England would re-plenish the empty war-chests of the Vatican, justas the conquest of the Pearl Islands, and theseizure of the Indian's gold and silver mines inSouth America, four centuries ago, replenished thoseof Philip II. and Alva; which gold was wasted ina vain attempt to extirpate Protestantism, by theextirpation of Protestants, in the Netherlands.

I have called this bankrupt condition of theChurch throughout the Catholic world" an impellingcause" for the Conquest of England, not the im-pelling cause-although perhaps in 1850, and fortwenty years thereafter, there was no other of anygreat weight. But on September 20, 1870, an eventhappened which gave a new direction to the wholepolicy of the Church, namely, the fall of the Pope'sTemporal Sovereignty. Now although we hope andpray that in God's providence that curse of Christi-anity and of civilization will never again be restored,yet ever since its fall it has been the fixed deter-

1 Sermon» on Ecclesiastical Subjects, by Cardinal Manning, vol. i.pp. 166-7.


mination of the Pope and the Church to seek itsrestoration at any cost. But as England blocks theway, an additional and powerful "impelling cause"has been furnished for its conquest; and I know thatthe Church intends in this matter ultimately to followthe precedent of 1690, and to land" a foreign arma-ment on our coast." However, I shall deal with this" impelling cause" in a later chapter, under the titleof" The Military Invasion"; and I only mention ithere to say that it does not supplant the" impellingcause" we are now considering, namely, the moral andfinancial bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Churchthroughout Christendom. Indeed, it lends freshforce to it, for without gold nothing can be done;besides which, this is the Church's great standard ofappraisement, as, with Hudibras, she asks in regardto her every ceremony and her every convert,

"For what in worth is anything,But so much money as 'twill bring."

Let us now look at the bankrupt conditionof the Roman Catholic Church in Roman Catholiccountries.

III

The Church Bankrupt In Italy

"Roma • • . sede d' una forma di credenza omaispente, e sorretta dall' ipocrIsia e dallapersecuztone:' ,

-MAZZINI. 8critti Editi e lnediti, vol. vii. p. 193.

R.ome • • • the seat of a form of belief nowextinguished, and supported by hypocrJ.syandpersecution.

IN1870, as I have just said, and as the world knows,the Pope lost the Temporal Power. Humanlyspeaking, he need not have done so. It is an

extraordinary thing the persistence with which Italy'sheroes of the Risorgimento, King Victor Emmanuel II.,

Massimo d'Azeglio, Camillo Cavour, Bettini Ricasoli,Urbano Rattazzi, Luigi Carlo Farini, and others(Garibaldi and Mazzini were exceptions), backed bythe Emperor Napoleon III., offered to come to termswith the Pope, and make him Honorary Presidentof an Italian Confederation. The original idea ofthese great men was not Italian Unity-to thatthey came by degrees-but Italian Unification; notone kingdom under the sceptre of the House ofSavoy, but three kingdoms-one of Northern, one

ss

THE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN ITALY 29

of Central, and one of Southern Italy, each underits own ruler and a constitutional government, butall under the honorary presidency of Pope Pius IX.

Indeed, this was one of the conditions of the Treatyof Villafranca, signed in July 1859. And it is anequally extraordinary thing how the Pope, andCardinal Antonelli, with their satellites, the Kingof Naples, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, spurnedtheir every offer. To each proposal of King VictorEmmanuel and his Premier, the Pope advanced hisinexorable" Non possumus."

This fixed aversion of Pius IX. from It Confedera-tion of the States of Italy so favourable to himself, is,to my mind, one of the strangest things in that man'sstrange career. It is an illustration of Solomon'swords: "The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord, asthe rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever Hewill." 1 For, just before he was elected Pope, he wasenthusiastic for a Confederation. The idea originatedwith Vincenzo Gioberti, to whom I have alreadyreferred, who first put it before his countrymen inhis book, Del Prima to Morale e Civile degli Italiani(Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians).This book, when the Pope was Cardinal of Imola,was lent him by his friend and neighbour, CountPasolini. The Cardinal read it and re-read it, andcould talk of nothing else. Then, when, in June1846, Pope Gregory XVI. died, and he went to Rometo take part in the election of a successor, he actually

1 Proverb« xxi. 1.


took with him Gioberti's book to present to the newPope, in order that he, too, might take up theFederation idea.' The new Pope turned out to behimself, who took the title of Pius IX., and no morewas heard of the Confederation! Indeed, as I havesaid, he became its uncompromising opponent.

This was in 1846, and many a chance he gotto accept it between then and 1870. As lateas 1867, when Italy was all but made, whenAustria had been expelled, and the various papaldynasties were overthrown, and the Pope, depen-dent on his French allies and his mercenary troops,was left alone in conflict with Victor Emmanueland the people, Baron Ricasoli, then for a secondtime Premier, turned once more to him, with theprayer that God would illuminate him, and that hewould "extend the embrace of peace to the youngnation"; but the Pope only answered that he I sawItaly" gia disfatta ed annientata" (already unmadeand annihilated]." Three years later still, on Septem-ber 8, 1870, when the Franco-German war was raging,and Napoleon had recalled his troops from Rome, whosebayonets and chassepots had supported for twenty longyears, against the will of the Italians, the totteringpontifical throne, and the Pope was at the mercy ofKing Victor Emmanuel II., that generous sovereignonce more held out to him the golden sceptre. Hesent a message by the hands of Count Ponza di

1 Guueppe Palolini Memorie Iiacolie da suo Figlio, p. 61.2 La Vita Politica di ContempOTaneilllustri, by Gaspare Fillali,p.lOO.

THE OHURCH BANKRUPT IN ITALY 31

San Martino, beseeching him to accept the inevitable,and open of his own accord' the gates of Rome tothe Italian Government and troops, and to reconcilehimself to the existing state of things, when theLeonine city (a proposal that England also favoured)would be left to him. After a little delay the Popereceived the Oount, read the letter, and then throwingit from him, in a towering passion, exclaimed: " Sietetutti un sacca di vipere, sepolcri imbiancati, emancatori de fide. Non sono profeta, ne figlia diprofeta, rna vi assicuro che in Roma non entrerete " 1

(You are all a sack of vipers, whited sepulchres,breakers of faith. I am neither a prophet DOl' U

prophet's son, but I can assure you, that into Romeyou will not enter).

How true it is that, whom the gods will destroy,they first make mad; or rather how true are thewords of good King Humbert, "God willed theUnity of Italy, in order that she might becomeprosperous and great."

It was the Pope's last chance. He would notlisten to reason. When did a Pope ever listen toreason? The only reason to which Pius IX. wasat last compelled to listen, was the voice of thecannon at the gates of Rome. And when, buttwelve days after his rejection of the message ofpeace sent him by King Victor Emmanuel, his dayof grace was over, and in the early morning at5.15 of the ever-to-be-remembered Twentieth of

1 R07IlU e lo Stato dill Pupa, by de Cesare, vol, ii, p. 436.


September, the roar of General Cadorna's cannonwas heard at Porta Pia, and, a little later, at 6.30,those of the terrible Nino Bixio (Garibaldi's gallantlieutenant in the expedition to Sicily) at PortaSan Pancrazio, near the Vatican (Nino Bixio wouldhave tumbled the palace about his ears, if GeneralCadorna had not stopped him), the poor Popecould hardly believe his senses.

Had he not taken every prudent sacerdotalprecaution to prevent the possibility of such a thinghappening ~ He had called upon St. Peter toarouse himself and protect his patrimony; he hadpaid his respects to half the miraculous Madonnasin the city j he had, on September 16, just fourdays before the bombardment of Rome, climbedthe Capitol to the Church of the Araceeli, to invokethe protection of the famous wonder-working doll,the Santo Bambino; 1 and on the 19th he had beenon a pilgrimage to the Santa Scala, which heclimbed on his knees, leaning, however, on the armof one of his chamberlains, de Bisogno: kneelingin front of the chapel at the top, to adore thewonderful relics preserved in it,2 such as :

"A ray, imprimis of the star that shoneTo the Wise Men; a vial full of sounds,The musical chimes of the great bell that hungIn Solomon's Temple; and, though last not least,A feather from the Angel Gabriel's wing,Dropt in the Virgin's chamber."3

1 Roma e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. p. 439.2 Idem, vol. ii. p. 449.3 Italy, The Campagna of Florence, by Samuel Rogers.


So sure was he that, after having taken all these pre-cautions, nothing untoward could happen, that at thevery moment when the Italian troops were enteringRome, by the breach in the wall at Porta Pia, hewas amusing himself by writing a charade on theword tremare (to tremble), a word very appropriateto the occasion !1

So fell the Temporal Power, "a monarchy," asMr. Gladstone has described it, "sustained by foreignarmies, smitten with the curse of social barrenness,unable to strike root downward, or bear fruit upward,the sun, the air, the rain, soliciting in vain its saplessand rotten boughs-such a monarchy, even were itnot a monarchy of priests, and tenfold more becauseit is one, stands out a foul blot upon the face ofcreation, an offence to Christendom and to mankind." 2

Elsewhere he speaks of its fall as being, becausemoral in its character, an event of even greaterimport to the world than the union of Italyitself, or that of the United States; an event which,as Signor Nathan, the Syndic of Rome, speakingon its glorious anniversary (September 20, 1908),at the breach of Porta Pia, said, "oversteps inthe magnitude of its significance, the walls of thecity; it crosses the Italian frontier, it makes itselffelt throughout the civilized world. In the greatbook in which are recorded the doings of nations,September 20th is not only a fact in Italian history,

1Roma e lo Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. p. 456.2 Gleanings of Past Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol. iv. I': 176.

3


it is the title of a new chapter in the history ofh "uman progress.

But long before the Church had lost her TemporalPower she had lost in Italy her Moral Power. InOctober, 1850, Count Cavour, writing from Turinto Count de Circourt, Paris, said: "With us theCourt of Rome has lost every kind of moralauthority; she might launch against us all thethunders that she holds in reserve in the cellars ofthe Vatican, without succeeding in producing anygreat agitation in the country. I can assure you thateven if the Pope (which is improbable) were to excom-municate us, there would be not the least trou ble. Themasses are religious, very religious, but they have nolonger any faith in the Pope. . . . The conduct ofPio Nono has too deeply wounded the nationalsentiment for his anger to be feared." 1 CountCavour's words were spoken of Piedmont, but theywere equally applicable to all Italy.

Gaspare Finali, politician, writer, and senator ofthe kingdom, whom I have already quoted, says ofBaron Ricasoli, who succeeded Cavour as Premier:" Solo fra i primari uomini di statu Italiani chesuccedettero ol Cavour fino ad oggi, il Ricasolimedito proforulasnente la questione ecclesiasticaelevandola al concetto religioso" 2 (Ricasoli alone

1 Letiere Inedite del Conte di Cavour, by Count Nigra, Letter I.,p.113.

2 La Vita Politica di Contemporanei Illueiri, by Gaspare Finali,p.221.


amongst Italian statesmen of the first rank, fromthe time of Cavour till to-day, meditated pro-foundly on the ecclesiastical question, elevating itto a religious conception). That is to say, soexclusively was the Church associated in the mindsof the heroes of the Risorgimento and of theirsuccessors as being only a political organization,that no one, except Baron Ricasoli (of whosereligious opinions I shall speak later on) everthought of her as having any moral or religiouscharacter at all. Massimo d'Azeglio, artist, author,and statesman, who, indeed, became the first PrimeMinister of King Victor Emmanuel II., says:"Lo spettacolo della Roma papale ha spenta inItalia religione" (The spectacle of Papal Romeextinguished religion in Italy).' And when we lookinto the doings of the Church in Italy we are notsurprised at this. The Roman Catholic Church isrevealed in the pages of Italian history, not only asdestitute of any particle of regard for the laws eitherof God or man, but as being the most irreligious, themost immoral, the most cruel and criminal of allhuman organizations, or, I should rather say, of allSatanic organizations; for I thoroughly believe, withDr. Arnold, that she is "the very mystery ofIniquity," the" greatest tour d'adresse that Satanever played." 2

History shows us the Pope, throughout the whole

1 I Mici Ricordi, by Massimo d'Azeglio, p. 21.2 Life of Dr. AT7loltl, by Stanley, vol. i. p. 46, ii. p. 54.


period of the Risoroimento, from 1848 to 1870, withhis mercenary army, composed, as de Cesare tells us," of criminals let out of Austrian jails, of riotous Swiss,of beggarly Spaniards, and of hungry Iri:-;h" ;1 or asCavour, writing to the Countess de Circourt at Parisfrom Turin, on 9th January, 1860, said, "of thegreatest vagabonds in Europe taken into his pay atthe dirtiest cross-roads of Switzerland and Germany,"!-imprisoning, torturing, hanging, beheading, andshooting everyone suspected of a love of liberty;in order, as Cavour said, "to hold up the throne ofthe successors of St. Peter." History shows us thePope stamping out every insurrection with a savage-ness which, to use the words of Adolphus Trollope indescribing what took place in 1831: "studded thecountry with gibbets, crowded the galleys withprisoners, filled Europe with exiles, and almostevery home in the Papal States with mourning." 3

History shows us the Pope employing assassins tomake away in the dark with this and that otherprominent Liberal. Domenico Antonio Farini, theuncle of the statesman, Carlo Luigi Farini, was somurdered. 4 History shows us the Pope massacringmen, women, and children indiscriminately, givinghis soldiers a free hand for lust and plunder, and

1 Roma e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol, ii. p. 53.2 Lettcre Incdite del Conte eli Cavom', hy Count Nigra, Letter XXVI.

p.97.3 Life of Pius IX., by T. Adolphus Trollope, p. 108.f La Vita Politica de Contemporanei Illustri, by Gaspare Fiuali,

p.255.


then rewarding them afterwards for their unheard-ofatrocities. This is what happened in June 1859, at,what every historian calls, "the massacre of Perugia."With reference to this, Trollope, in his Life of PiusIX., says: "It is fair, perhaps, to consider that theexcesses of the soldiery sent to Perugia make no partof the personal biography of the Pontiff. Neverthe-less, it is not permissible for a biographer to forget,however gladly he would do so, that so far fromreproving or even deploring the hideous excesses thatwere committed by his troops at Perugia, the ] IolyFather saw fit to thank the general in comman.l, awlto cause a commemorative medal to be struck ILK

a memorial of his gratitude, and a reward to thesoldiers for doings which no other civilized statewould have tolerated in its agents." 1 De Cesaresays: "The sacrifice of Perugia, the echo of whichwent far and wide, provoked in every part of thecivilized world strong protests against the govern-ment of the Pope." 2 Swinburne arraigns the Pope,under the names of Iscariot and Judas, for thismassacre, before the bar of humanity, in his poementitled, Peter's Pence from Perugia, part of whichruns thus:-

"Tscariot, thou grey-grown beast of blood,Stand forth to plead; stand, while red drops ruu hereAud there down fingers shaken with foul fear,

Down the sick shivering chin that stooped and sued,

I Life of Pius IX., by T. Adolphus Trollope, vul. ii. p. j.t.2 Eoma e to Staio del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. p. 369.


Bowed to the bosom, for a little foodAt Herod's hand, who smites the cheek and ear.Cry out, Iscariot; haply he will hear;

Cry, till he turn again to do thee good.Gather thy gold up, Judas, all thy gold,

And buy the death; no Christ is here to sell,But the dead earth of poor men bought and sold,

While year heaps year above thee safe in hell,To grime thy grey dishonourable headWith dusty shame, when thou art damned and dead."

History shows us the Pope punishing Italiansfor having been lacking in respect towards theircountry's enemies. For example, Cesare Lucatelli,who was beheaded in 1861, had been sent to prisonfor four months for insulting and threatening someFrench soldiers; and for a milder 'form of the sameoffence, Alessandro Castellani was imprisoned fortwenty-four days.' History shows us the Popeturning out of the Roman hospitals medical menand lady nurses, who were attending to the sick andwounded Italians after Garibaldi's heroic but in-effectual defence of Rome in 1850, and replacingthem by incapable nuns and street porters. Theeminent doctors Raimondi and Bertani, and thePrincess Belgiojoso, and other patrician ladies, whogave their services gratuitously, were so treated.History shows us the Pope following that up byturning out of the hospitals the sick and woundedItalians themselves, and transferring them to theprison of Termini." History shows us the Pope

1 Roma e lo Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. pp. 165, 170.2 La Principessa Belgiojoso, by R. Barbiera, p. 321.

LE STRAGI DI PERUGIA.(Tile Massacres of Perugia.)

Pope Pius X. and Cardinal Merry del Val.

LE SMENTITE VATlCANE NON VALGONO A NULLA: CI VUOL ALTRO PER .'ARSPARIRE LE MACCHIE DI SANGUE Dr CUI E INTRISO TUTTO IL PAPATO

(Vatican denial' are useless: it wants more tltlll/ tltot to was" away tlte stains ofbloodWI/It wltic" Ike wholepapacy is imbrued I)


pursuing the same heartless line of conduct in 1867,after the battle of Mentana, when Captain CarloMayer of Leghorn, and other wounded Garibaldians,were put in the Careeri Nuovi (the New Prisons).Whilst on both these occasions, and at all othertimes, history shows us the Pope manifesting thetenderest solicitude for the comfort and cure ofwounded French or Austrians, visiting them, bless-ing them, and giving them medals and gifts ofmoney.' History shows us the Pope picking outrich Jews, who were among Italian prisoners ofwar, baptizing them (just as nuns re-baptizeProtestant children in convent schools), confiscatingtheir estates, and then, according to popular rumour,which is not often mistaken, poisoning them. Thewealthy Jew, Leopold Rava, captured at Mentana,was so dealt with, although the poisoning is denied.2

Italian soldiers seriously ill were tormented bypriests and monks, who threatened to leave themto die of thirst and hunger if they did not imme-diately make a confession puittosto politiea ehereligiosa (more political than religious). 3 Theyeven dealt in that way with wounded Englishmen.De Cesare mentions the case of John Scholey,also a Mentana prisoner, who coolly offered hisspiritual advisers cigars and brandy, when theyfled from his bedside saying that he was a child

1 Ra7Tw e lo Sta:» del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. p. :34:3.2 Idem, vol. ii. p. 341.3 La Priucipess« Belyiojasa, by R. Barbiera, p. 32:3.


of the devil.' History shows us the Pope im-poverishing his own countrymen by taxes andcustoms duties, from which he exempted priests, andFrench and Austrians. History shows us the Popeemploying debauched women in Rome and through-out Italy as spies for the betrayal of Liberals, suchas the notorious Countess of Spaur, CostanzaDiotalevi, and scores of others." History shows usthe Pope forbidding relatives to attend the funeralsof their murdered kindred, as happened atAncona in 1855, in the case of Antonio Giannelli;and it shows him imprisoning those who went toconsole bereaved mothers on the death of theirchildren who had fallen in the struggle for Italianliberty, as was done to those who went to thesorrowing mother of Mr. Gladstone's friend, BaronCarlo Poerio." Lastly, for I might prolong theindictment indefinitely, history shows us the Popepaying brigands, and adding paid criminals to theirranks, so as to harass the borders of young Italy,as was also told me by Cardinal Antonelli's banker,who advanced the money.

Pope Pius IX. by these, and by a thousand othersimilar enormities-which make the history of theRoman Catholic Church in Italy, during herstruggles for independence and unity, one unbrokenrecord of cruelty and wrong-not only lost the respect

1 Roma e to Sinto del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. p. 341.2 Ide/n, vol. ii. p. 195.3 Prose e Poesie Iialuine, by Luigi Morandi, p. 287.


of every decent person in the land, becoming an objectof general ridicule, even Pasolini saying: "It is atruly pitiable thing to see how this poor man is madean object of derision, and the butt of all " ; 1 but alsoroused against himself, and his iniquitous Church,the indignation of the civilized world. Nowherewas this indignation more vehemently expressed thanin England; so mueh so that when, on March 26,1860, the Pope cursed the New Italian Kingdomby launching against all its liberal inhabitants themajor excommunication, Punch, in its issue of April 7following, expressed the feelings of our country-men in these words: "And what better thing mllldhappen to them (tho Italians] than to be at once andfor ever-as it may be hoped they are-cut off from It

blasphemous institution wickedly miscalled a Church,whose chief strews the streets with the mangled bodiesof women and children. Out of a Church whoseHigh Priest offers human sacrifices-out let themgo with deepest joy, being freed from the loathsomepollution of such a communion. Excommunicatedmen, women, and unslaughtered children, for oncebe thankful to the holder of the keys." 2

And during the half-century that has elapsedsince then, the Church in Italy has not only neverrepudiated her atrocious crimes, but by fomentinginsurrection and rebellion wherever she could do so(as in Sicily in 1894, in Cararra in 1895, and at

J Guiseppe Pasoliui Me1l!orie Iiacolte da suo Fiqlio, p. 192.2 Punch, April 7, 1860.


Milan in 1898); by associating herself with regicide,befriending and defending Bresci the assassin ofKing Humbert, the religious services at whosefuneral the Pope said he only" tolerated" ; and byimpeding in every way in her power useful legis-lation, she has shown herself ready to re-enact themall, if only by doing so she could destroy the youngKingdom of Italy, and once more re-gain for herselfthe Temporal Power. For it must never be forgottenthat the Temporal Power-though it has never been,and never now can be formulated, for no Governmentwould permit it-is really a dogma of the Church.Indeed, the original object for which the {EcumenicalCouncil of 1869-70 was called, was, not to formulatethe dogma of the Papal Infallibility, but that of theTemporal Power. Papal Infallibility was really anafter-thought of those who organized the Council,and was brought forward as a stepping-stone tothe other. Had the Franco-German War-whichwas promoted by the Pope and the Empress of theFrench in order to crush Protestant Germany-succeeded, then the French troops would have re-mained in Rome, or returned thither, and the Tem-poral Power would have been proclaimed as a dogmaof the Catholic Faith.' In keeping with this theChurch, in order to promote the bread riots of1898, circulated tens of thousands of postcardswith a portrait of Pope Leo XIII. on one side,and on the other the words: "The Pope is

1 Born(~e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. pp. 405, 409, 411.


King of kings and Lord of lords. He is respon-sible to none save Jesus Christ, whose Vicar he is.The Pope requires Temporal Sovereignty in orderto fulfil his mission. This was sacrilegiously takenfrom him. Although Temporal Sovereignty is notan article of faith, yet it is so closely allied to anarticle of faith, that those who do not believe in it,and do not work to bring it about, imperil theireverlasting salvation."

Thus also the present Pope, Pius x., on theoccasion of President Loubet's visit to the Quirinal in1904, referred to King Victor Emmanuel III. as "hewho retains illegally the Capital of our kingdom."We also read in the Libra Bianco, publi.'lhe<1hy tileVatican, in 1905: "The Pope (Pius x.) cannot acceptthe situation created in 1870, and he insists on hisright to the Pontifical States, and on the necessityof his possessing an independent territory." Andas late as September 1908, he turned back from theprecincts of the Vatican the tri-coloured flag of thecountry, calling it, as Pius IX. had done before him,"il cessillo di Satana" (the banner of Satan). Inharmony with this are Mr. Gladstone's words:"She (Italy) is the country whose very heart it isthe fixed desire and design of the Roman Curia,and of its co-bettors throughout Christendom, to tearout of its bleeding body, for the purpose of erectinganew the fabric of the Temporal Power nowcrumbled in the dust." 1 Not less to the point are

1 Gleanings of Past Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol, vi. p. 202.


these other words of his: "There is a fixed purposeamongst the secret inspirers of Roman policy topursue, by the road of force, upon the arrival of anyfavourable opportunity, the favourite project ofre-erecting the terrestrial throne of the Popedom,even if it can only be re-erected on the ashes of thecity, and amidst the whitening bones of the people.It is difficult to conceive or contemplate the effectsof such an endeavour. But the existence at thisday of the policy, even in bare idea, is a portentousevil. I do not hesitate to say that it is an incentive togeneral disturbance, a premium upon European wars."!

That the Church, by this her anti-Christianand anti-Italian policy, has not only alienated fromher the respect and sympathy of all right-mindedItalians, but awakened in their breasts the bitterestfeelings of hostility, there is an abundance ofproof. In Parliament and in the Press she is con-stantly spoken of as "the enemy in the citadel,"and as "the eternal enemy"; and I have heard thePope denounced, not personally, but officially, as" the assassin of the country." It is calculated thatof Italy's thirty-three millions of inhabitants, overtwenty millions refuse on principle to cross thethreshold of a church door, which twenty oddmillions include nearly all the industry, intelligence,morality, and religion in the land." This statementis borne out by an article written by a liberalpriest, Don Rodrigo Levoni, in a newspaper pub-

1 Vaticanism, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 50. 2 Appendix II.


lished in Reggio-Emilia, in which he says: "Menof culture, scientists, serious persons, all, withoutexception, give her (the Church) a wide berth.Only the lower populace, sordid and ignorant, thevulgar, who like to be defiled, still cling to her." 1

J am aware that the Church denies this last-mentioned fact; and that travellers in Italy, whenthey see occasionally large congregations in citychurches, and more especially in those in villagesand country places, are apt to think the Church notwholly wrong. But even if all the places of worshipin the land were filled with people, the numberswould amount to but a fraction of the population.Then the comparatively large attendance of peoplein country places is accounted for, not only by theirignorance and superstition, but by the fact thatmany of them are in debt to the Church. For in orderto obtain a hold over them the Church has turnedbutcher, baker, and candlestick-maker. She hasopened co-operative stores, wine-shops, recreation-saloons, as well as banks and assurance offices. Thepeople are drawn into these as customers, creditbeing given them, and money lent to them to stocktheir holdings, and so they feel it to be for theirmaterial interest to attend church.

In regard to the attendance in city churches, it isto be remembered that all ecclesiastical buildings,without exception, belong to the State, for the use ofthe people; many therefore enter them to worship who

1 La Giustizia, Aug. 1, 1909, Reggio-Emilia.


have no link of any kind with the officiating priests,who never confess to them, or ever take the sacramentat their hands. In this they follow the example oftheir great King, Victor Emmanuel II., il HeGalantuonno, who, when in Bologna in 1860, wentto the Cathedral of St. Petronius. When he enteredit, not a priest was to be seen, the whole Chapter onpurpose absenting themselves. By and by, fearingthe evil effects of their discourtesy, they went to thepalace and made their apologies. The king answeredthem: '<Hanmo fatto bene a non incomodarei. 10non andai in chiesa pe?' far visita ai preti, bensiper far visita a Dio" 1 (You were right not totrouble yourselves. I did not go to church to makea visit to the priests, but to make a visit to God).

But it has been said, that whilst these thingsare so, yet these same men and women who shun thepriest, still send for him on great occasions in theirlives, such as at times of marriage, baptism, sickness,and approaching death. That used to be the case;but this taunt of inconsistency can no longer bethrown at Italy, as a nation.

For example, at the celebration of marriage, thepriest's presence is no longer necessary; indeed,unless he is there as a witness or spectator, it isillegal. Marriage has been taken entirely out of thehands of the Church. No priest, not even the Popehimself, can now legally marry a couple. Marriageis a civil contract, only legal when performed by the

1 L'Italia dey Ii Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. iii. p. 543.


Mayor of the place in which the couple live, or byhis assessor. Indeed, as recently as May 1908, thenecessity of imprisoning priests who dared to marrypersons independently of the civil rite, was broughtforward for the second or third time in the House ofDeputies. One strong reason put forth in supportof this was, that priests often lent themselves (fora consideration, of course) to adventurers, marryingthem religiously, not unfrequently to rich strangers.When these adventurers got what they wanted, theyleft their victims, telling them that they had neverbeen married. A case of that kind had just occurredin Rome, when the deserted American girl had com-mitted suicide. In another comparatively recentcase, in which a man, after marrying one girl inchurch, and getting possession of her money, withthe collusion of a priest, had married anothercivilly and legally, ,the deceived woman shot himand his wife too. If people are silly enough to obeythe Pope and rest content with a religious marriage,then their children are registered as illegitimate, andon the death of their parents they cannot inheritreal property. The Pope's marriage Encyclical is,of course, a document in favour of illegality andimmorality. After a couple have been marriedcivilly and legally, then they may go, if they choose,to a church, and get what is called the Church'sbenediction on their union. But the number of thosewho do this is steadily declining.

Statistics taken in the autumn of 1908, at Bosco


Masola, in the Province of Ferrara, and some otherplaces, show that ninety per cent. of married couplesdispense with the Church's "benediction." Thesame hostility to the Church shows itself in times ofsickness and of death. In the places referred to, nine-tenths of those who are in sickness refuse to see apriest, dispense with the sacrament at death, and giveorders that no priest shall be called to conduct theirfunerals. At the same time, crosses are generallycarried at these civil funerals to show that they whohad died were Christians. A large number of childrenare unbaptized, the parents not wishing to compromisetheir future by identifying them with RomanCatholicism. I am not aware that Bosco Masola, andthe other places where the statistics I have givenwere taken, are exceptional places in thus turningtheir backs on the Church. I am inclined to believethat, if inquiry were made, similar results would beforthcoming all over Italy.

La Vera Roma, a Roman clerical journal, laments,in an issue of May 1905, that there are in Rometens of thousands of young men, over fifteen yearsof age, who have never taken their first communion.A priest some years ago called upon a friend of myown in Venice, and asked him to send his little girlof five years old to receive the sacrament of Cresima,or Confirmation, which consists in a bishop makingthe sign of the cross on the child's forehead with amixture of oil and balsam (crisma, chrism), an d thengiving it a touch on the cheek, by which it is said it


receives the Holy Spirit, and becomes a good soldierof the Church. My friend objected, saying that hischild was too young to understand anything of sucha matter. "True," said the priest, "but unless weget children about her age, we never get them at all."That is to say, if a child is allowed to grow oldenough to be capable of judging for itself in suchthings, it refuses to become a communicant member ofthe Roman Catholic Church. I am told that there isnot a well-born Italian amongst the students of theCollege of Noble Ecclesiastics in Rome; and theChurch is finding an ever-increasing difficulty in re-cruiting the ranks of the priesthood, even thoughshe drags in the lowest stratum of society.

Every traveller in Italy knows that there is nota city, or town, or village, that has not streets andsquares and roads named after the excommunicatedheroes of the Risorgimento, and that everywheremonuments have been erected to "heretics," such asGiordano Bruno, Arnold of Brescia, Savonarola ofFlorence, Fra Paolo Sarpi of Venice, and a hundredothers, whom the Church burned, and shot, andassassinated; and every traveller also knows thatthere is not a cabman, or courier, or porter who doesnot talk contemptuously of the Church, and of herpriests and services. In Italy there are "none sopoor to do her reverence," or, at least, none but,as Don Rodrigo Levoni has shown us, the verypoorest in goods, in intellect, and in morality.

ITALY IS LOST TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.4

IV

The Church Bankrupt in France and inother Continental Nations

" If the Roman Catholic Church is the Church ofChrist, then, instead of founding a brother-hood of love, Christ has only succeededinfounding a society of cruelty and blood."

-M. CLEMENCEAU. Speech in French Ohamber,

"Al1 our unhappiness comesfrom Rome."-DR. EISENKOLB. In the .Austria1b Reichsrath.

A FEW years ago France was as sound asleep asJohn Bull is to-day; and taking advantage ofits slumbers, the Church had nearly made a con-

quest of it. A quarter of a million of priests and monks,most of whom had taken the vow of poverty, and allof whom professed themselves to be on the bordersof beggary, had filched from the people a capital ofsome four hundred million pounds, besides lands andhouses worth millions more. Mons. Combes, thelate Prime Minister, tells us in the National Reviewof March 1905, that the Church took advantage ofall the privileges of the Concordat, whilst "theentire Catholic clergy, from the Pope to the cure,are permeated by a determination to evade its

50

THE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN FRANCE 51

restrictions. . . . There was not a single article,imposing an obligation on the Church, which had notbeen transgressed at every turn either by the Popeor by the clergy." 1 The Clerical party was at workin every department of life, public and private.Their baleful influence was felt in the family, insociety, in the army, in Parliament, everywhere.Again he says: "The Clerical party had capturedevery sphere of public activity. Its nomineesoccupied the most conspicuous positions throughoutthe country; at the time Gambetta revealed thedanger to anxious Republicans, clericalism hadalready enrolled the bourgeoisie among its cl1;entel(~,and was thus able to capture the liberal professions."

The Religious Orders had their own schoolseverywhere, and they also controlled the Stateschools. The education was such as to repress allindividuality and originality in their pupils, and soto make them not good citizens, but the subser-vient tools of their teachers. M. Guyot, ex-cabinetminister, declared to a special correspondent of theDaily Telegraph that France was "honeycombedwith confessionals, that sweep away the groundunder our feet whithersoever we turn, in Parliament,in the Press, in the ranks of the army, in the GeneralStaff, on the Bench, everywhere." By means of theconfessional, he said, " the affectedly pious congrega-tions had got hold of the army chiefs, some directly,

1 National Review, March 1905, "Republican Policy and theOatholic Church," pp. 32, 33.


some through their pious wives. They had the secretexamination papers of the St~1te Commission surrep-titiously revealed to their scholars before the examina-tion took place, and people then wondered at theproficiency of the pious young men . . . . In this way,not only did there exist a State within a State, buta semi-secret society had been introduced into thearmy and navy, a sort of black masonry by no means'free,' and officers recommended by the Jesuits wereprivileged and promoted .... In this way theVatican hoped to get the management of theRepublic into its own hands, through the all-power-ful Congregations. A most intricate web of con-spiracies was then woven in the unwholesome gloomof the cloister. It emerged into the light of day inthe form of the Boulangist agitation; . . . then theDreyfus affair electrified the world." 1

It is within the memory of all of us that in thiscase, one revelation of clerical conspiracy followedon the heels of another with startling rapidity; howeach morning the civilized world stood aghast as theblack indictment against the Church grew blackerand more terrible. At last, driven to despair, shetook to that weapon which history, and not leastthe history of our own country during the timeof Queen Elizabeth, shows us she always holds inreadiness, the knife, the revolver of the assassin. Anattempt was made to murder Maitre Labori, theadvocate of Dreyfus. Then France awoke, her sleep

1 Daily Telegraph, February 26, 1901.

THI<; CHURCH BANKRUPT IN FRANCE 53

was effectively broken, her eyes were opened. Shesaw that, as Combes says: "In France, the CatholicChurch is not content to claim liberty. She aspiresto domination. To her, liberty is the means ofsecuring supremacy over other religious communions,and of coercing civil society in a manner incompatiblewith the fundamental ideas of our Republican Con-stitution. . . . Clericalism is, in fact, to be found at thebottom of every agitation and every intrigue fromwhich Republican France has suffered during the lastfive-and-thirty years."l France saw, in fact, that theRoman Catholic Church had her hy the throat, awlwas fast strangling her; that the struggle before herwas a life-and-death one; that her vcry existencedepended on her shaking off her enemy.

Providentially, she had statesmen who not onlyrealized this peril, but were able to meet it.Combes, speaking of his action in the matter, says:"The policy pursued by me for the last two yearsand a half is simply the policy propounded byGambetta, of whom Waldeck-Rousseau was a disciple.It is the policy of combating clericalism-the bornenemy of the Republic .... Like Gambetta, I havefought resolutely against the claim of the higherclergy to interfere in public affairs. Like JulesFerry, I have once and for all withdrawn the youthof France from an educational system which isincompatible with our ideals. Finally, by the

1 National Review, March 1905, "Republican Policy and theCatholic Church," pp. 32, 33.


application of Waldeck-Rousseau's own law, I havedestroyed the chief clerical weapon, namely, theteaching, preaching, and trading Monastic Orders,which had gradually entangled civil society in theminute meshes of a net spun with extraordinaryskill and patience. . . . I have combated clericalismin its two principal strongholds, viz., the ReligiousOrders and the secular clergy." 1

We know the legislation to which Combesrefers-the Law of Associations, which was pro-posed in the French Chamber on March 29, 1901;approved by the Senate on June 23; and finallypromulgated on July 2 of the same year: andthe Law of the Separation of Church and State,passed in December 1905, and which came intooperation on January 1, 1906.

By the former law all Associations were calledupon to register themselves, to explain their con-stitution and membership, to report as to the workin which they were engaged, and to give an accountof the real estate they held, and of their incomes,under pain of dissolution. It suppressed tradingOrders engaged in manufacturing wine and spirits, per-fumes, medicines, and soap, and it closed all monasticand nunnery schools, and proposed to limit theirwealth and membership. Most of the Orders" lefttheir country for their country's good," swelling theranks of the Pope's Army of Invasion in England.

1National Review, March 1905, "Republican Policy and theCatholic Church," pp. 35, 36.

L'ESEMPIO DELLA FRANCIA.(The ExamjJle oj France.)

(Lalll against tke COlllfrega/ions.)

•[B)' /avour tJ/ flu

HON, G. POOR~CCA


The following passage from a speech of Clemenceauexplains the objects aimed at in the Law ofSeparation. "Dogma," he says, "by its verynature makes the claim to dominate all. It is dogmawhich has educated us in intolerance. In France,as elsewhere, we see it complaining that its libertyis being interfered with when it comes into conflictwith liberty of thought and belief in others. TheChurch of Rome has given itself up for centuries tothe attack of what she calls heresy. Her wholerule has been one of violence. She has burned,she has massacred, she has acquired over the Civilpower the privileges of wealth, a portion even ofthe power of the State; but we intend that thatpart of her history shall be for ever ended. Andwhatever her later evolution may be, the Frenchpeople resolve that it shall be carried out apartfrom despotism, and without privilege. That iswhy we have resolved, in spite of her protestations,to take from her the right to draw upon the fundsof all, upon the budget of the State, for the supportof particular beliefs - that is to say, the privilegeof levying tribute upon heresy which she is nolonger able to stifle in blood. That is the explana-tion of the Law of the Separation of Church andState. The proclamation, the realization of theprinciple of liberty of conscience, implies a newcondition of mind. Dogma by its very beingwishes to have possession of the whole man, todominate him, to rule in all the manifestations of


his life. The daily exercise of liberty which theLaw of Separation supposes, wishes, 011 the contrary,citizens, with the spirit of toleration, from whichdogma for centuries has striven to turn them away." 1

Strangely enough, too, Pius x. came forwardto help the French statesmen in passing these laws.Combes said to a friend of my own that, but forthe help of the Pope, he doubted if these laws wouldhave been placed on the statute-book, at least assoon as they were. The Pope rendered this helpby the violent and threatening language he used fromtime to time against the Republic, even inciting thefaithful to rise in rebellion against their rulers; hedid so by commanding the conforming Bishops todisobey the law; and above all by outraging nationalsentiment on the occasion (to which I have alreadyreferred) of President Loubet's visit to King VictorEmmanuel III. at the Quirinal, which he declared tobe "un' offesa alla Chiesa ed al Papa, e una feritaai diritti papali" (an offence to the Church and tothe Pope, and a wound to papal rights).

M. Clemenceau declared the opposition of Popeand Church "to be not one of religion, but ofpolitics under the guise of religion. The Churchhas in the past been either the accomplice or theinstigator of reactionary governments, always thestrong against the weak. The opposition to theassociations eultuelles, like the disturbances sheraised at the taking of the inventories, was for

1Oontinental p,,"byterian, 1907, Translation by J. E. S.


the purpose of causing troubles which should wreckthe Republic." 1

What The Times said of the AssumptionistFathers, and in defence of the French Governmentin suppressing them, holds true of all the Orders,and justifies its similar dealing with them all. Itsaid: "The Assumptionist Fathers profess to be areligious organization working for spiritual ends.As a matter of fact, there is nothing religious aboutthem, except the fact that they are ecclesiastics.They are a political organization, working to extendthe influence of the Church of Romc over the FrenchArmy and the French Legislature. . . . In thepursuit of their secular ends, they acknowledge norestraints of patriotism, of morality, or of religion.. . . There is not in the action of the FrenchGovernment any trace of religious intolerance. Itis dealing simply with political agents aimingat the subversion of society, employing the mostscandalous and immoral methods, and using theirecclesiastical status simply as a cloak to disguisetheir real character, and a means of envenomingthe dagger they seek to plunge into the side of thebody politic." 2

In God's good providence France has beenpurged of those propagators of mischief, the teaching,preaching, and commercial Orders; and the State isnow, not only liberated from its deadly enemy the

1Continental Presbyterian, 1907, Translation by J. E. S.2 The Times, January 25, 1900.

58 TH~ PAPAL CONQUEST

Vatican, but it has also taken means to safeguarditself against its insidious attacks in the future.

Since then, France, that once bore the proudtitle of " The Eldest Daughter of the Church," havingfound out the true character of her unnatural mother,IS fast coming into line with her Latin sister Italy.The following statement by a Roman Catholic writerin the Catholic Times, very forcibly brings this out.Re says: "There are whole regions where the mennever enter the church, and the women no longercomply with their religious duties. The childrengo to Catechism until their first Communion, andthenceforward never approach the Sacrament till itis brought to them at the hour of death. Marriagesand funerals are still accompanied with the rites ofreligion, but even here purely civil burials andweddings are no longer uncommon, and nowadaysexcite neither surprise nor disapproval. The priestis without any influence on the population, andlives like a stranger among his flock, by whomhe is unfavoured and kept apart from social life." 1

The state of matters thus described by that writerclosely resembles in many particulars what obtains inItaly. At the same time, people in general in Franceare not drifting into infidelity or atheism, just as theyare not doing so in Italy, although the Papal Churchdeclares that such is the case in both countries. In aletter from the Rev. S. D. Martin of the Eglise Libre,written in March 1909, he speaks of a "village of a

1Catholic Ti'mes, May 9, 1902.

THE CHURCHBANKRUPTIN AUSTRIA 59

thousand inhabitants, where five years ago all wereRoman Catholics, and now not a single one goes tothe Roman Catholic church, but the men are going innumbers to the Protestant congregation." 1 Like Italy,FRANCEIS LOSTTOTHEROMANCATHOLICCHURCH.2

Let us now look at AUSTRIA. That country usedto bear the little enviable title of "Most Catholic,"and well did it merit it. From the burning of Hussin 1415, the murder of over two millions ofProtestants in Bohemia and Moravia in the earlypart of the seventeenth century, and the dreadfulcruelties perpetrated in the name of thc Church illLombardy and Venetia from 1848 to 1866, whenAustria dominated these regions, the persecution ofChristian believers has never entirely ceased. Somethirty years ago Christian Evangelical work was pro-hibited in Prague and in other parts of the empire,and many pastors and missionaries were prosecuted.Somo ten years ago an artist was sent to prison forneglecting to take off his hat to the Host as it wascarried past him in procession; about the same timemy wife and I were warned that we might be askedto cross the frontier if we continued to distributeGospels; about four years ago a colporteur wasimprisoned seventeen days for selling Bibles, andit is only three years since a Protestant place ofworship was closed by the police in T~ieste.

1Missionary Record of the U.F. Cku'f'ch,April 1909,Edinburgh.2 Appendix III.


Soon after King Humbert came to the throne,in 1878, he was invited by the Emperor FrancisJoseph to visit him in Vienna. Signor Criepi wasthen Prime Minister. He lost no time in makingit plain to the Emperor and the Austrian Cabinetwhat acceptance of that invitation would imply.It would imply that Francis Joseph must returnthe visit, not at Venice, or Milan, or Florence, butin Rome, the Capital. The reason why Crispiinsisted on this, was because the Pope forbids anyCatholic Prince to come to Rome except to payhomage to him as sovereign. The guaranteesoffered by the Emperor and his Cabinet beingdeemed insufficient by Crispi, the proposed visitwas abandoned. Three years afterwards, in 1881,the Emperor and the Viennese Government againopened negotiations. Depretis was then in power,but again the conditions laid down by Crispi wereinsisted on. This time the guarantees given by theEmperor and his Government were accepted, bothhaving promised, without reserve, that the visitshould be returned in Rome. In October of thatyear King Humbert went to Vienna. The visit hasnot been returned to this day!

In March 1880, Mr. Gladstone fought his firstand ever-memorable Midlothian campaign. In thecourse of a speech in the Music Hall, Edinburgh,he made reference to Austria. I remember dis-tinctly his words, and I can see as plainly now as Idid then, the dramatic way in which he moved his

THE CHURCH R&.NKRUPT IN AUSTRIA 61

hand nervously a few inches above the table beforehim, from one point to another of it, as if he weresearching for some spot on a map, and then, asif in despair, brought his finger down upon it withthe words: "It is impossible to lay your fingeron a spot in Europe and say, 'Here Austria hasdone good.''' vVe know that Austria took offenceat his words, and that after he became Premier heexpressed regret at having uttered words "of apainful and wounding character" when he was" in aposition of greater freedom and less responsibility."Mr. Gladstone did not say that his words were un-true, for he could not belie history; and I nowknow, as I did not know then, not only theirabsolute truth, but also how Mr. Gladstone mighthave added, that it would be an easy thing to layone's finger on a hundred spots in Europe and say,"Here Austria has done harm."

This state of matters is explained by the factthat for nearly five centuries Austria has been theabject slave of the Roman Catholic Church. ThatChurch ruled in the Royal Palace, in the Court,in the Houses of Legislature, in the Municipalities,in the Universities and Schools, and in the Homesof the people. Priests were everywhere, and every-where they were the masters, controlling the thoughts,the wills, the words, the actions, and even thepockets of the people; and everywhere they were theembodiments, not only of tyranny, but of falsehood,of ignorance, of deceitfulness, and of corruption.


But after 1866, and especially after 1870,the people became restless under the galling yokeand degrading influence of the Roman CatholicChurch. The idea and love of religious liberty,and of constitutional right, seemed to have beenborne to them on the breeze from the sunny freeplains of Italy. Mutterings of discontent began to beheard in town and country, in Provincial Councilsand in the Reichsrath, against the insolence,and greed, and interference in civil affairs of thepriest. These were the heralds of a coming stormthat was to uproot the Church in many a part ofthe empire, or rather they were the precursors ofan earthquake that was to shatter its detestedpower. In 1897 the famous Los von Rom move-ment began. Mr. John Gulland, in a pamphletentitled The Religious Awakening of Austria, tellsus how this was. A student at Vienna first usedthe phrase when attacking the Church in a speech,in which he said: " We are only waiting a favour-able moment to show the people by some strikingexample how they ought to break the chains of theRoman despotism. They will find one day in theGerman Protestant Church an education a thousandtimes more noble, more free, and, above all, morenational." 1 The" favourable moment" came soonafter, when Dr. Schonerer, a leader in the Reichs-rath, took up the phrase Los von Rom, making itthe title of a manifesto, ill which he said; "Away

1 The lldigiws Awakening of Austria, by John Gulland, p. 46.

THE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN AUSTRIA 63

with the fetters that bind us to a Church which isthe enemy of our nationality. The spirit of theGerman, and not of the Jesuit, shall rule a Germanpeople"; and in which he called for the writtenpledges of ten thousand people that they wouldinstantly come out of the Churoh.' The tenthousand pledges reached him, and many thousandsmore, and so the" striking example" of the studentwas shown the people as to "how they ought tobreak the chains of the Roman despotism." "Losvon Rom" became a popular cry, and the watch-word of religious freedom; and the movementspread, and is spreading still.

As a result of it, hundreds of thousands have leftthe Roman Catholic Church, whilst not thousands, hutmillions, have only now a nominal connection withher. Austria-Hungary has some forty-two millionsof inhabitants, and of these, Dr. Albert W. Clark ofPrague has told me, not less than three-fourths areout of sympathy with Rome. That is to say, threeOUt of every four people one meets with in theempire are only Roman Catholics in name. Inreality they are the enemies of the Church oneducational, moral, religious, and also on politicalgrounds. Of course, the Roman Catholic Churchsays that these, having left her, go to swell theranks of infidelity and atheism, just as they say-aswe have already seen-a similar class do in Franceand Italy. But nothing is farther from the truth.

I The Religious Awakening of Austria, by John Gulland, p. 47.


In Austria, as in France and Italy, infidelity andatheism are found in the Church rather than outof her, and especially in the ranks of the clergy.

But another gratifying result of the Los von Rommovement, and an incontrovertible refutation of thepapal calumny, is seen in the wonderful progressof Evangelical Protestant Christianity. The oldMoravian Church, the Lutheran Church, the Re-formed Church, the Congregational, the Methodist,and the Baptist Churches, have each received intotheir membership from two to twenty-two thousandpersons, believed to have been converted fromCatholicism to Christianity. Mr. Gulland, in hispamphlet, to which I have already referred, tells ushow, in the German parts of Bohemia, where therewere in 1889 but 18 Protestant congregations, with23 churches and 48 places of worship, there werein 1903, 49 congregations, 52 churches, and 125places where services are carried on regularly. InStyria, and in other parts, a similar growth incongregations, buildings, and preaching stationshas taken place. And the growth continues.Building sites are being bought, and places ofworship are going up rapidly everywhere. BesidesProtestant churches and mission stations, Mr. GuHandspeaks of many Evangelical Societies springing up,such as Young Men's Christian Associations, Pro-testant Ministers' Societies, Evangelical Unions, andthe Gustavus Adolphus Society, which has manybranches, and contains some 100,000 members.

THE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN AUSTRIA 65

The representatives of the people in Parliamentare not afraid to talk out against the Church. Morethan one has boldly said that the Jesuits and thepriests are at the bottom of all the intrigue. poverty,and misery in the land; and in July 1906, when aBill was introduced still further to tax the people,in the interests of the papacy, Herr Schumann roseand proposed the separation of Church and State.

Monasteries and nunneries were a few years agowisely dealt with by the Legislature. In order tocheck their growth, none are allowed to exist with-out the sanction of the Minister of Public Worship.In order to check their wealth in lands and building«,they are not permitted to add to their real property,either by purchase or inheritance, without the samesanction being obtained. Yearly returns must berendered to the Government of revenue and member-ship. Government inspection takes place at statedtimes, although any monastic institution must openits doors to the police whenever called upon to do so.

Much has thus been done to break the papalchains that have for so long enslaved Austria.Still much remains to be done. For example, thereis no liberty, as yet, in Upper Austria, in Salzburg,and in the Tyrol, for the selling and the distributionof the Holy Scriptures. Quite recently the Britishand Foreign Bible Society applied to the AustrianGovernment to obtain that liberty. The answerrather surprised the Society. It was that therequest of the Society would require to be referred

5


to the Vatican! Thus Austria humiliates herselfto permit a foreign power-and such a power-to interfere in the internal affairs of the State 1Yet someone might throw in my teeth the factthat the British Government in Ireland does thesame thing. I believe it does, and I do not hesitateto say that its conduct in this matter merits a heaviercondemnation than does that of Austria. In thecase of Austria, too, I believe that the Emperor ismuch more to blame than the people. He hassuffered many tragic family bereavements andsorrows, and the Church trades upon that fact, andupon the old man's superstition and fear. She isnever tired of telling him that these affiictions wereGod's judgments upon him for yielding from timeto time to the demands of the Liberals, and forcurtailing her power. In 1855 the Church tried toimpose in the same way upon Victor Emmanuel II.,

who, after giving his assent to various liberalmeasures, which abolished Church Courts, dissolvedthe monasteries, and curtailed priestly power, losthis wife, his mother, and a son. He was inclinedto believe what the Pope told him, that these be-reavements were punishments inflicted upon him byGod; but Count Cavour was by his side to tell himthat the Pope and the Church lied, that God couldnot punish him for doing what was right. But thepoor Emperor Francis Joseph has no Count Cavourto undeceive and strengthen him.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, light spreads,

THE CHURCHBANKRUPTIN GER~fANY 67

and the power of the Church in Austria is notwhat it was. THAT COUNTRYIS SLIPPINGFROMHERGRASP.l

CATHOlICGERMANYis also in a state of revolt.Amongst the Romanists of that country, on whosegoodwill and support the Kaiser counts so much,there was discovered, in July 1907, the existence ofa wide-spread plot against the Index Librorusr;Prohibitorum et Expurgat01'1lm, and in favour ofliberty of thought and general culture. Manypriests, as well as influential laymen, both ill theliterary and political world, were found to bemembers of the league. Almost all the J tnliannewspapers of the date I mention, July 1907, gaveprominence to it in their columns, and some, moreespecially the Corriere della Sera, which has a largecirculation in Lombardy and Venetia, and indeedthroughout all Italy, did not hesitate to say that theconspiracy was international in character."

In SPAIN there exists also a widespread spiritof dissatisfaction and rebellion, increased greatly bythe judicial murder of Senor Ferrer. Out of aCatholic population of twenty millions, not over fivemillions ever go to confession, thus putting them-selves outside all the privileges of the Church.

I am told that in PORTUGALand BELGIUM8 ananalogous state of things obtain. The people inthese lands have also begun to be restless under

1 Appendix IV. 2 Idem, V. 3 Idem, VI.

68~. THE PAPAL CONQUEST

the galling yoke of a mediseval Church and adisreputable priesthood.

Something also has been done in each of thesecountries by their Governments to check clerical greedand licentiousness, for the monasteries and nunnerieshave all been placed under State supervision andcontrol. With comparatively unimportant differ-ences, the regulations are similar to those whichexist in Austria. All Religious Associations ofevery kind must obtain Government sanction fortheir existence. They must open their doors toGovernment and police inspection when calledupon to do so. They must render annual returnsto the Government of their membership andrevenue. In these countries, too, the Jesuits, thosedisturbers of domestic and national peace, are moreor less under special police regulation. Hence thesorry praise of England, given in' The Tablet ofAugust 9, 1902, when, describing a festival heldby the Farm Street Jesuits in honour of thefounder of their Order, Ignatius de Loyola, it saidthat only in England could they thus meet, becauseof their expulsion from France, their exclusion fromGermany, and the hostility they encountered inevery Latin country,

In these last - mentioned countries, Spain,Portugal, and Belgium, the Church has not yetbeen grappled with by the people, but its day iscoming, When I was in Spain a few years ago, Iheard the opinions freely expressed that the power

THE CHURCH BANKRUPT IN EUROPE 69

of the Church must be broken, even though theThrone should perish with her. And, if the king andhis infatuated wife only go on a little longer counten-ancing the priests in all their doings, and ruling bytheir help, and for them, we shall see that Churchand Throne will go down together, and that a freeRepublic will be proclaimed. The time has gone byfor rulers, either despotic or constitutional, to leanupon the Church for support. Those so doing, losethe affection and even respect of every right-think-ing man in their realms. Their only safety consistsin following in the footsteps of the noble princes ofthe House of Savoy, and in thus identifying them-selves with national liberty and national progress.

In every Roman Catholic country in Europe,outside perhaps unhappy Ireland, the once fullgolden streams of Peter's Pence that flowed merrilyout of them to the Vatican, impoverishing theirlands for the enrichment of idle and too oftenworthless priests, are fast drying up. The Churchis feeling this acutely and lamenting it loudly.But this is only a sign and symptom of the factthat in these countries the Church is being "foundout," that her hold over the minds of the peopleis relaxed, where it has not entirely gone; andthat the day may not be far distant when Austria,and the other Catholic countries of which I havebeen speaking, may come into line with Italy andFrance in open hostility to the Church that has forso long kept them low down in the scale of nations.

v

English Gold to fill Empty Coffers

.. Roma papale ebusb della pazienza del motuio,volle fargJi comprare la vita futura colt' oro,a difetto di virtu."

-MASSIMO D'AzEGLIO. I Miei RicO'T'di, p. 270.

Papal Rome abused the patience of the world,it wished to purchase the future life withgold, in defect of virtue.

FROM the picture of the Catholic nations on theContinent, very much awake to the enslavingand impoverishing character of the Church,

buttoning up their pockets, drawing tight theirpurse-strings, turning their backs upon her, or shakingin her face "the mailed fist," let us turn to that ofgood, easy, confiding John Bull, lying fast asleep,his pockets full of gold-fast asleep, as the frontis-piece of my book shows, feeling secure in his illusorystrength.

Does he not present a tempting victim? Neverbrigand had before him such a prize. ·Would theChurch not belie her own character and history ifshe did not determine to make a conquest of him?There can be no two opinions on such a matter.

70

ENGLISH GOLD TO FILL EMPTY COPFERS 71

For if the history of the Church teaches ..anything,it is that coveteousness, avariciousness, an insatiablegold-hunger, has ever been one of her ruling passions.Solomon says: "The horseleach hath two daughters,crying, Give, give." The Roman Catholic Churchmust be one of them. Amongst all its gods andgoddesses, madonnas, hosts, saints, crosses, crucifixes,fetishes, and charms, gold is the chief.

"Gold is the greatest god, though yet we seeNo temples raised to Money's Majesty."

Mr. Froude, in his Annals of an Rngb:sh AIJhey,says: "Money, in fact-how to get it, awl who huda right to share it-became the question of deepestmoment in the Church, and the chiefest subject ofdiscussion, from the sacred Conclave in Rome to theshaving-houses in abbey and priory." 1 It is thesame thing to-day. Gold is the explanation of everyrite and of every ceremony in the Church, of all the" toll-gates" that, Mr. Froude says, were erected" forthe priests at every halting-place on the road of life."Even" mass," the "holy Eucharist," for which theRoman Catholics in England, and especially thePress of England, manoeuvred by Jesuits, latelyexpressed such an extraordinary reverence, is only anarticle of commerce. It is valued according to what itbrings in. In Italy, five-sixths of the priests have noother means of livelihood than saying masses for theliving, or for the dead, "singing souls out of purga-

1 Short Studies on Great Subject8, by J. A. Froude, vol. iii. p. 46.

THE PAPAL CONQUEST

tory." Never a mass do they say that is not paidfor. I have known a priest in Umbria refuse to givethe viaticum to a poor dying woman until he gotthree sous for it. Judas sold Christ for thirty piecesof silver, the Church will sell Him for three half-pence II have known a priest, when money was not forth-coming, refuse to conduct a funeral, and only to doit when a carabiniere took him by the scruff of theneck, and forced him, as a prisoner, to do so.

Massimo D'Azeglio strongly animadverts on thecupidity of priests at funerals. The occasion of hisdoing so was the death of his father. After say-ing that, whilst deprecating all pomp and show,everyone naturally desires to do honour to thememory of his dead, by having a becoming funeral,he proceeds: "Then arises that sad and repugnantdiscussion with the parish church about the tariffwhich regulates the minutest details of a funeral.It is necessary to listen to an enumeration of thevarious prices, and to be interrogated regarding them:so much for the bell-ringing, so much for thecandles, so much for a simple covering for the bier,so much for one having a silver fringe ... and all thiswith an evident purpose to speculate on the indiffer-ence and pliableness of those who, at such a time,have far different thoughts at heart, in order tosecure a gain that would bring the blush to thecheek of a usurer. The honour that we render tothe memory of our dead, the love that we feel forthem, comes from the inmost fibre of our heart, and

ENGLISH GOLD TO FILL EMPTY COFFERS 73

no people, in any time that we know of, have beenindifferen t to this sentiment. And are we, socivilized, to have our hearts lacerated by the clawsof such birds of prey, at such a moment of agony?Amongst the hundred reforms that the Catholicfaith ought to undergo, must be included funerals.These are at present one of her shames." 1

I may here say that the price of a funeral variesfrom a few francs to several thousands. A friendof mine a few years ago paid two thousand francs(£80) for that of his mother. I have heard Italiansgive most amusing accounts of how the different-priced funerals are conducted. When hut a fewfrancs are paid, a priest, without help, mumbles n.few sentences in a low and indistinct voice; whenmore money is forthcoming, he speaks louder andplainer, and perhaps calls in an assistant; as theprice rises, the number of priests and the noisethey make increase, until, when a couple of thousandfrancs are paid, it would seem as if the roof must beblown off the building.

Gold is the explanation of every festival of theChurch. It accounts for her thousand and one saints,and madonnas (half of the saints, like St. Expedite,never having had any existence, and most of theother half, like St. Pius V., having led lives steeped infalsehood and crime), and for the fact that whenevermoney is wanted "it pulls out another saint," as theItalians say. That is why the Church canonized the

1 I Miei Ricordi, by Massimo D'Azeglio, p. 446.

74 THE PAPAL CONQUERT

other day Joan of Are, and Clement Hauffbauer, aGerman, of the Order of the Redemptorists-theselection of the former being meant also as a sop toFrance, and that of the latter as a further token ofregard for the papal ally, Germany. In regard toJoan of Arc it is well to remember that, as theItalian and French papers do not fail to point out,she died by the hand of her Church. She was triedby a tribunal of priests, presided over by PietroCauchon, Bishop of Beauvais. By this tribunal shewas convicted of heresy, and by its order she wasburned in the market-place of Rouen on May 31,1431. The Asino of April 18, 1909, gives anaccount of the trial under the significant heading," The Executioners beatify their Victim," and endsit with the words " Assassins and Fools!"

Saints' days are called by the Italians, "gioTnidi mercato clericale, can raddoppiamento d'impos-ture e di affari bottegai" (Clerical market days, witha redoubling of imposture and of shop-business). Itis on these days that the Sag'i'as, or Holy Fairs, areheld in and around the churches, when a roaringtrade used to be done (it has now sadly fallen off) inoil and candles, rosaries and scapularies, crosses andcrucifixes, medals and images, relics of saints andholy water, papal bulls to eat meat on forbiddendays (Bolla di Carne); to get souls out of Purgatory(Bolla di Defunti); to enable one to steal without de-tection, or the Thieves' bull,' issued by Leo XIII. (Bolla,

I Ra'IY/,an Indulgences of To-day, hy Fulano, Pl- 45, 47.

ENGLISH GOLD TO I<'ILL EMPTY COFFERS 75

di Composizione); and in the other endless" objectsof piety," which form the stock - in - trade of laBottega del Papa; la Santa Botteqa (the Pope'sShop; the Holy Shop), as the Italians call the Church.

De' cieli ella gloriaVolete il diritto 1Pagate, CattoliciPagate l'aflitto!Venite, la celebre

La Santa BotieqaA prezsi di Fabrica,Vi scioglie, vi lcq« ;J!',! spacci() tli merit i

(:'tncell,! pecfll! iVeuite ! i soltJ1:/,,/e

8nranno'':.beati.'

Gold explains the nine Divine commandments ofthe Church (for it has cut the second commandmentout of the Decalogue, and split the tenth into two soas to make up the number); 2 and the ninety and nine,or nine hundred ninety and nine for that matter, ofits own enactments are more honoured in the breachthan the observance. For, in the eyes of the Church,the laws neither of God nor of man exist to beobeyed, but in order to be broken, that their breachmay be commuted for money. There is no violationof law that cannot be arranged for by a fine. Nosin is too great to be cancelled, if one can afford, asthe saying is, "to buy the priest," or rather to pay

I Le Hime, di Lorenzo Stecchetti, p. 48,~ Compendio della Doitrina Christill/n,', pre",.,-itto tla 8.::;. l'upl!

Pio X., 1909, p. 157.


the sum set against it in the Taxa CancellariaRomasue. Dispensations are on sale to enable oneto do anything he pleases. Erasmus said he hada Catholic heart but a Lutheran stomach, and hecould not eat fish on Fridays, so he procured a Meatbull, which enabled him to eat flesh to his heart'scontent from Sunday to Saturday for a year. InFulano's book, quoted above, he tells us that"Millions of bulls are printed and put upon themarket yearly," all issued in the name and bythe authority of the Pope. In Spain they areadvertised and sold like tea and sugar in the shops.'

A man may not marry his grandmother; but ifmoney is forthcoming, permission can be secured tomarry her, or anyone else. Just as there are nosins that cannot be commuted for money, so thereare no "forbidden degrees" that money cannotoverstep. I personally know men who are marriedto their nieces, having bought dispensations-toenable them to do so. The world knows how thelate Duke of Aosta married his niece, the PrincessLaetitia, paying to the Pope for his dispensationsome four thousand pounds.

Gold explains why the Church has never hesitated,not only to cancel other peoples' sins and crimes formoney, but to commit any number on her ownaccount. In Rome and in the Papal States before thefall of the Pope's Temporal Power, no sick person couldsee a physician until he had first seen a priest. This

1 Roman Indulgences of To- day, by Fulano, p. 23.


was a very old law in the Church, but it had falleninto abeyance until our sorry saint, Pope Pius v.renewed it with fresh pains and penalties. But thecalling in of a priest was, not for him to give spiritualhelp and comfort to the sick man, but to make hismoney secure. The priest at once insisted on seeingthe will, and as no will was valid that did not containa legacy for the Church, it was his duty to see thatthat condition was complied with. Sometimes thatlegacy was put in very reluctantly; and if the sickman recovered, the Church felt that in all likelihood hewould cancel it. But that did not suit her cupidity;and so, as Italians have often told me, the priestsused to take measures effectively to prevent himchanging his mind, by simply leaning heavily withtheir arms on his chest, or compressing with theirfingers his throat, when administering the viaticum.The patriot and friend of Garibaldi, Giuseppe Cam-panella, himself a priest, and a famous singer in theSistine Chapel, whom I knew personally, gives indetail in his Life in Exile, a revolting case of thiskind which came out in the Courts of Justice. Heconcludes by saying: "The homicide Confessor wasnot punished by imprisonment, because the Church per-mits that, when the Confessor has got from the dyingpenitent full conviction of pardon, he, the Confessor,perceiving that the dying man cannot regain hisformer health, may, with the hand, suffocate him;or obtain death by pressing strongly the elbow uponthe heart-always, be it understood, with the inten-


tion of not letting him suffer any longer." 1 Italy,which started on the principle of giving the Churchabsolute freedom of action, putting in practiceCavour's, or rather Montalembert's, idea of a LiberaChiesa in Libera Stcao, was compelled in 1890 topass the New Penal Code, by which the Churchbecame inscribed in the only category she is fit to beenrolled in, namely, that of criminal institutions;and by which, as I shall by-and-by show, the powerof the priest to interfere in civil matters, or to annoyin any way Italians, for doing what the law of theland permits, no matter what the law of the Churchmay say, has been effectively checked.

But now all these avenues of gain to the Churchare no longer what they were, many have been blockedaltogether. Gaspare Finali, in his book on his"Illustrious Contemporaries," says: "L'obolo diSan Pietro, allora flume di ricchezza del Papa, oggie diventato ruscello " (The obolus of St. Peter, oncea river of riches for the Pope, has become to-day arivulet]."

No more death-bed tricks can be played bypriests now in Italy: they must go to Ireland tohave liberty to do that. A will that contained alegacy to the Church, which would be sustained inIreland in the face of justice, and of the claims ofstarving relatives, would in Italy infallibly lead to

1 Life in Exile, by G. M. Campanella, chap. xvi. p. 247.2 La Vita Politica di Contemporanei Illustri, by Gaspare Finali,

p.153.


the apprehension of the priest concerned, to hisexamination before a magistrate, and, in all pro-bability, to his imprisonment, and, of course, to thecancelling of the gift.

It is illegal to leave money for the sayingof masses for the dead, and money left in thepast for this purpose is being transferred to usefulobjects. Thus the Municipality of Florence onceheld a considerable sum of money for singing soulsout of Purgatory. A few years ago, when thetime came round to makc the usual annual assign-ment of the money. It member of the C0111H;il roseand said that he did not see that any good waseffected by paying priests to say masses fur thesouls of the dead, and he proposed thut it shouldbe devoted to relieve the needs of the bodies ofthe living. Accordingly, it now goes to the poor ofthe city.

Some years ago Purgatorial shrines, like the oneDickens describes as existing in his day, at Albaro,near Genoa, were to be seen by every roadside inItaly. He tells us that: "Just without the citygate, on the Albaro road, is a small house, with analtar in it, and a stationary money-box, also forthe benefit of the souls in Purgatory. Still furtherto stimulate the charitable, there is a monstrouspainting on the plaster, on either side of thegrated door, representing a select party of soulsfrying. One of them has a grey moustache andan elaborate head of grey hair, as if he had been


taken out of a hairdresser's window and cast intothe furnace. There he is, a most grotesque andhideously comic old soul, for ever blistering in thereal sun, and melting in the mimic fire, for thegratification and improvement (and the contribu-tions) of the poorer Genoese." 1 These shrines used,not only to be numerous, but also mines of wealth tothe Church-some were even Company concerns.Now they have all disappeared. Soon after Dickens'time they fell into disuse, and were gradually de-stroyed. The demand on the market for the Bolladei Marti (Bull for the Dead), has so fallen off thatfor every thousand Bold a few years ago, not ten aresold to-day. The" lucrative fiction," as Dean Alfordcalls the doctrine of Purgatory, when commentingon 1 Cor. iii. 13, is no longer credited; 2 Latimer's"Purgatory Pick-Purse" has been sent to thegalleys.

And the disbelief in the efficacy of masses forthe dead, happily finds its counterpart in disbeliefin masses for the living. Roman Catholics the worldover, in thousands and tens of thousands, haveceased to believe in the power of the priest, or evenin the necessity for the existence of such a class ofmen, to come between the sinner and the Saviour;and, disbelieving in the priest, they have no respectfor the mass, nor for any of his priestly functions ...:\.few years ago, if not in Italy, yet in France, the

1 Pictures from Italy, by Charles Dickens, p. 260.2 The Greek 7'e~la:J1ent, by Dr. Alford, 1 Cor. iii. 13.

ENGLISH GOLD TO FILL EMPTY COFFERS S 1

demand for masses was so great that priests couldcommand their own prices for saying them. Middle-men existed in Paris, generally booksellers, whobought up masses from city priests, who got more thanthey could legally say, and sold them on commissionto country priests, who had too few. Now themass market is so low that that line of business ispractically at an end.

The financial loss to the Church through thecauses I have mentioned-the neglect of Saints' days,the forsaking of the Holy Fairs, and of the Holy Shop,the fact that few now want" dispensations to sill,"the disbelief in the priest and in Purgatory,which has made masses for the living nwl for thedead a drug on the market-the financial ]01>1'1 to

" the priest and the Church from all these causes isincalculable.

In the old Castle of Saint Angelo, in Rome, oncethe Pope's fortress and prison-house, now a militarymuseum belonging to the Italian army, I saw threebig iron chests which Napoleon the Great clearedof Peter's Pence. The "Pence" amounted to25,000,000 scudi, or £5,000,000 sterling! I amafraid he would not reap such a golden harvestif he paid a visit to the Pope's money-chests to-day.The gold has become dim, and the most fine goldchanged. Peter's Pence is pence indeed now.

The Papal Church professes an ardent desire tosave the souls of Englishmen. She is consumed witha desire for their" conversion." But it is a desire for

6


English gold that consumes her; and the Churchcares no more for the souls of Englishmen, Scotsmen,or Irishmen than she does for the souls of Italians andFrenchmen, and that is nothing at all. In makingthis statement, I believe that I am only stating aliteral truth. In support of it, I give the followingquotation from the Autobiography of my friendDr. Andrew White, late President of CornellUniversity, and late Ambassador of the UnitedStates at St. Petersburg and Berlin. He tells usthat, when leaving the Hague Peace Conference of1899, an "eminent diplomatist from one of thestrongest Catholic countries, and himself a Catholic"said to him: "They (the Popes) pretend to beanxious to 'save souls,' and especially to lovePoland and Ireland; but they have for years usedthese countries as mere pawns in their game withRussia and Great Britain, and would sell everyCatholic soul they contain to the Greek and EnglishChurches if they could thereby secure the active aidof these two Governments against Italy." 1

Because it is the gold of Englishmen andEnglishwomen the Church seeks, and not theirsouls, therefore its propaganda is carried on mainlyamongst the wealthier classes. Mr. Gladstone hassaid: "The Original Gospel was supposed to bemeant especially for the poor; but the Gospel ofthe nineteenth century from Rome courts anotherand less modest destination. If the Pope does

1 Autobiography of Andrew D. White, New York, vol. u. p. 351.


not control more souls among us, he certainlycontrols more acres." 1

In 1834, Dr. Arnold, writing to ChevalierBunsen, said: "I hear that the Roman Catholicsare increasing fast amongst us. Lord Shrewsburyand other wealthy Catholics are devoting theirwhole incomes to the cause." 2 If that was true then,much more does it hold to-day. There are at thepresent time some forty Roman Catholic Peers inthe House of Lords. These men, for the most part,are not only unfit to sit in the British Legislature,but unfit to hold property in the kingdom at all;for their purses and estates, as well al-ltheir votes, arecontrolled wholly by their Jesuit Confessors in theinterests of their mundane Church, the enemy ofEngland. Most of them hold their broad acresvirtually as fiefs or appanages of the Holy See.The Mortmain Acts are practically a dead letter;for if English estates are not alienated to theChurch, yet, as Mr. Gladstone has said, "it controlsthem." Besides the peers, there are some fifty orsixty Roman Catholic baronets and knights, all ofwhom are wealthy, and not a few of whom are inthe House of Commons, and whose wealth is to alarge extent at the command of the Church. Thenthe Church carries on a big propaganda at presentamongst rich old women, amongst those who, havinglived all their lives in "Vanity Fair," are beginning "

1 TM Vatican Decrees,by W. E. Gladstone, p. 62.2 Life of Dr. Ar'l/old, by Stanley, vol. i. p. 338.


to feel that "the world passeth away, and the lustthereof." But I may say in passing, that neitherthese, nor women in general, have much cause tobe thankful to the Church; for at the Council ofTrent a discussion took place as to whether womenhad souls or not, and the affirmative was only carriedby a majority of three votes!

Then the Church, which is ready to take up anyline of business, honest or dishonest, in which moneyis to be made, has during these past years become inEngland, as in America, a matrimonial agency. Shehas opened what are practically" Marriage Bureaux"in many districts where wealthy families are to befound. That is to say, she has Jesuits everywhereworking to promote marriages between RomanCatholics and rich Protestants. Unhappily theirefforts are too often successful, to the enrichment ofthe Church, and to the ruin in body, soul, and estateof happy human lives. But the Church speculatesin human misery.

Then again, by means fair and foul, public moneyis secured by the Church. A couple of blacknuns gather together, by means of bribery andcorruption, by giving sweets and clothes andgifts of money, a sufficient number of children toform a school in the eyes of the law, when theyapply for an educational grant, and they get it too.Pairs of these nuns frequent offices, shops, andprivate houses in every town ill the kingdom,begging for so-called charity, and beg most sue-

ENGLISH GOLD TO FlU. EMPTY COFFERS 85

cessfully, as many people have not the moralcourage to say no. These sisters are often ac-companied, too, by little girls, supposed to beorphans, who serve as advertisements of their shamrescue and reformatory work. Of course, to uselittle girls for such a purpose is simply todemoralize them; but that is of little moment, sothat money is brought in. Begging letters are alsolargely made use of; and when a discussion of thismatter was raised in the columns of Truth in 1901,that paper said: " Week by week, and month hymonth, heartrending appeals for cash have been senton to this office by persons to whom they havebeen addressed."

The whole policy of the Roman Catholic Churchin Ireland is simply one of plunder. This iscarried out by the Nationalists in the BritishParliament, who represent, not the people of Ireland,but the Church; for, as The Tablet has said:" Ireland is a Catholic country; the real constituentsof it are the bishops and the priests. . . . Thereare of course exceptions, places where lay influencepredominates; but, on the whole, the Irish representa-tion is the work of the priesthood. The IrishMembers are in Parliament because the priests havesent them there." 1 Yes, and the priests demand andreceive their implicit obedience, even though, asCarmine said "They are hard taskmasters, and theo ,advocate who would satisfy them, must deliver him-

1 Shall we Tolerate the Jesuits? pp. 19, 20.


self up to them bound hand and foot." I The Govern-ment also aid these priest-elected and priest-paidmembers in their mission of plunder. Quite recentlythe "Christian Brothers," who were formerly in receiptof no educational grants, were put up by a minister,to a back-stairs method of reaching John Bull'spockets. The priests, monks, and nuns who darkenthe land, are a vast army of marauders, pillagingthe British taxpayer and the people of Ireland.

For example, these" religious" have any numberof Reformatory and Industrial Schools for which theyobtain exorbitant sums from the British Exchequer.I say exorbitant sums, because the cost of educatinga child in a Catholic institution is always far greaterthan that of educating him in a Protestant one. Itake from the Report of the Reformatory andIndustrial Schools, for 1903, the following facts. Thecost of educating a child in the Protestant Reforma-tory School at Malone (Belfast), which is the onlyone in Ireland, is only £15 6s. 9d. a year, whilstthat of educating a child in the Roman CatholicReformatory School of St. Conleth's (Philipstown) is£21 14s. 8d. ; at High Park (Dublin), £23 lIs. 4d. ;at St. Kevin's (Glenore), £24 6s. 9d.; and atSt. Joseph's (Limerick), £24 16s. lId. The samediscrepancy in the cost of educating Protestant andCatholic boys holds of the Industrial Schools. Thequestion is, What explains the enhanced price ofeducation in the case of Roman Catholic children?

18puch ,,'/& the HoWl oj CO'1TII1M1U, February 15, 1825.


It is not that they get a better education, or arebetter fed and clothed; for in these respects theProtestant children are infinitely better treated.As F. Hugh O'Donnell says in The Ruin ofEducation in Ireland: "The root of the thriftlessIrish home is in the new school, just as the rootof Irish national ignorance is in the clericalizedmonopoly of all education." 1 The only explanationis that it is part of the scheme of the Church toobtain John Bull's gold. These institutions arechiefly money-making speculations.

The same explanation account."!for the faet thatthese Roman Catholic Reformatory and IndustrialSchools in Ireland are beyond all comparison morenumerous than those belonging to Protestants. Ofcourse, I recognize the preponderance of Romanistsin the population; but this does not fully accountfor the condition of things. In part this maybe explained by the greater poverty and crimin-ality of the Catholic population, but mainly bythe fact that children are surreptitiously inveigledinto these schools. Priests, in collusion withpolicemen, tempt children to beg in the streets,so that they may be apprehended. They are thenbrought before a magistrate, and handed over tothe priests to be brought up in one of their Homes.As must be apparent to everyone, the charity ofall such institutions is only a cloak in order toobtain John Bull's gold.

I The Ruin of Education in Ireland, by F. Hugh O'Donnell, p. 187.


The same disreputable tactics are made use ofin the way the Old Age Pension scheme is beingworked to plunder John Bull. According tostatistics furnished to the House of Commons byMr. Lloyd George, when the subject was underdiscussion in November 1908, whilst in Englandand Scotland less than one-third of those whohave reached the qualifying limit of seventy yearsof age, applied for a pension; in Ireland the numberof applicants was such as to include every man andwoman of that age, rich and poor, and even thenthere remained a big surplus of applicants to beaccounted for. As soon as the Old Age Pensionscheme became law, Roman Catholics in Ireland, ofboth sexes and of all ages, suddenly attained thePsalmist's limit of life, three-score and ten, and sentin their claims; and, as the Papal Church rules inIreland, and this miracle of age was wrought byit, the claims were granted. The result was that,in proportion to population, Ireland had over fourtimes as many Old Age Pensioners as England,Scotland, or Wales, and the age-qualifying miracle,like the transubstantiation one, went merrily on.But now, I am glad to see, the Government aretaking steps to arrest the scandal. The ProtestantObserver for the month of February 1909, under theheading" Irish Notes," by " Spes," says :-

" If great vigilance is not exercised, the Old-AgePensions will be converted into an endowment ofPopery. Under the care of a community of nuns

ENGLISH GOLD TO F'ILL EMPTY COFFERS 89

there is a home for old ladies in the north side ofthe city of Dublin. Most of the inmates on enter-ing carried with them some money which theyhanded to the sisters. Now the old ladies havereceived Old-Age Pensions, and the decree has goneforth that four shillings of each pension are topass into the community coffer, and one shilling isto be retained by the pensioner." I

What O'Connell, in his speech at Ennis in 1829,falsely said of those he called the "Brunswickers,"we may truthfully say of the priests, monks,and nuns of Ireland to-day: "They will turn upthe white of their eyes to heaven, and at the sametime slyly put their hands into your pockets !"

John Bull's gold is further obtained by thelabours and the sufferings of the inmates in toomany of these nunneries; not only in Ireland, butin England and Scotland, which we have everyreason to believe are only "sweaters' dens."

Mr. L. J. Maxse, the Editor of The NationalReview, in writing of the nunnery of the "GoodShepherd" at Nancy in France, which was con-demned and dissolved by the French Law Courtson February 28, 1903, says: "The evidence showedthat the daily hours of labour were excessive, andthat it was carried on in low and ill-ventilatedrooms." 'Ihe pensionnaires rose at half-past fouror five o'clock in the morning, according to theseason, and went to bed at eight or nine o'clock at

I TM Protutant Olnerver, February 1909.


night; while at periods of pressure, which werefrequent, they were compelled to work until eleveno'clock, or even to midnight. The court declaredthat these prolonged hours of toil were scarcelybroken by the moments snatched for meals orrecreation, the daily task varying from twelve tothirteen up to fifteen hours. 1 The Bishop of Naneysaid: "The nuns of the Bon Pasteur violate, asregards the young women they receive, not onlythe code of charity, but the principles of justice,and many other laws as well. . . . The nunshave no other end than pecuniary gain." . . .I have said, and I repeat, that there is not inthe whole country an unbelieving employer, be heJew or Freemason, who thus exploits his work-men and his workwomen, and treats them as thesenuns treat the young girls whom they pretend toreceive for charitable motives." 3 The Bishop furthersaid: "I am inclined to believe that what ishappening here (at Nancy) is also happening in agreat number of the houses belonging to this Order,perhaps in all of them." 4 After saying this, heheld an inquiry, which enabled him to declare:"I reiterate that these crimes are certainly com-mitted in all the establishments of the Bon Pasteur." 5

Mr. Maxse further tells us that in France there wereof these, 221, containing 48,000 workwomen belong-ing to the Order, and" as these unfortunate women

1 TM National Review, April 1903, p. 313.II Idem, p. 324. • Idem, p. 323.

~ Idem, p. 322.6 ldem, P: 325.


receive no wages, while many of them are paidfor by their relations, their labour can hardly beworth less than £200 a day." In the next issueof The National Review, Sir Godfrey Lushington,late Under-Secretary for Home Affairs, treating ofthe same subject, tells us that "The Mother . . .taught the daughters to measure their services toGod by the size of their contributions to thetreasury of the Order"; and that "the ecclesi-astical authorities at Rome knew all that was goingon at Nancy," and" had complete power to l'CpreSRabuses, but they conspicuously abstained." 1 Thereason is made apparent in what he further says:"The fact cannot be overlooked that the mother-house at Angers, with its more than two hundreddaughter-houses-all in the habit of making yearlyofferings to the Holy Father from the fruits ofthe labours of the convent-factory workers - wasfor the Roman See an important tributary, notrashly to be affronted. To this extent the Popewas a sleeping partner in the concern." 2 "And nowfor the English moral" drawn by Sir GodfreyLushington. He says that some may ask, "Howdo these things concern us? They took place inFrance; they could never happen in England. Butsurely we shall not listen to such a flatteringargument. For my part I do not believe that theFrench are less kind to their children than we are

1 The National Review, May 1903, p. 381.J Idem, pp. 381, 382.


to OUfS .... But T do believe that, whether in Franceor in England, like conditions tend to produce likeresults. And the conditions are alike." 1 He thengives a list of nine houses belonging to this in-famous Order that have established themselves inGreat Britain, and adds: "Now everyone of thesehouses is bound, no less than Nancy was, to be inconformity with the Nancy model, and to complywith directions received from the mother-housethere." And Mr. Maxse, on this same subject, asks:, Is there any reason to imagine that its Britishdaughter-houses are differently managed from thosewith which the Bishop of Nancy is familiar?""Indeed," he adds, "we have less security in thiscountry against conventual abuses than exists inFrance, where there is official inspection of allindustrial establishments, however ineffectual." 2

Without doubt, then, many religious houses ofall kinds in Great Britain and Ireland are simply,such as those of the "Good Shepherd" in France,mere "sweaters' dens," in order that gold may beextracted from John Bull's pockets to help some-what the impoverished exchequer of the Pope inRome. I believe, too, that not only do these she-wolves of nuns undersell honest tradesmen, whoobserve the factory regulations, and from Christianprinciple act humanely to their workers; but, inorder to attract custom, they are authorized to give

1 The National Review, May 1903, p. 388.t Idem, April 1903, p. 323.


plenary indulgences and other spiritual privilegesto customers spending so much money, just as someshops give a tea-pot or a set of tea-cups to customerswho purchase a certain quantity of sugar and tea!

A manufacturer in Ireland told me that onpay-days a number of priests line the avenues tohis gates, and every Roman Catholic workman inhis employment has to give a certain percentageof his wages to them. The priest's preference sharesin his men's earnings come before the claims of theirwives and children.

vVe all know the disgracefully wretched hovelsin which the Irish peasants Iive--clay walls, hrokcnwindows stopped with old clouts, a roof half opento the sky, so that, as one Irishman said, he couldlie in bed at night and count the stars. I was toldthey could build themselves respectable houses, butthey were deterred by the fact that if they did so,the priest would raise his charges in proportion, orout of all proportion, to the outlay. This robberyexplains why alongside these hovels expensivechurches, and huge monastic buildings, and palatialpriests' houses are raised; and why, realizing at lastthe utter impossibility of bettering their position,with these harpies of priests around them, the Irishemigrate in tens of thousands to America. That isthe true explanation of Irish emigration., and not,as the Nationalists and their paymasters, the priests,falsely and calumniously say, .because of the despoticrule of Britain; for it is notorious that Ireland is"'-~---


greatly undertaxed as compared with England andScotland, as well as over-represented. The peasantsemigrate to escape the tyrannous rule and plunder-ing hand of their execrable Church.

Mr. Michael M'Carthy says: "The millions ofour church-money, priest-money, nun-money, andpope-money are extracted from a lean peasantry,whose withers are almost wrung, and who are winc-ing like galled jades under the overpowering weightof their priestly riders." I He also shows us howdeath-bed terrorism, which, as I have said, no priestdare exercise in Italy, is exercised by almost everypriest in Ireland. Everywhere it is seen, "terrifyingthe enfeebled minds of the credulous, the invalid,and the aged; with the result that the savings ofpenurious thrift, the inheritance of parental in-dustry, the competence of respectability, are allalike captured in their turn from expectant next-of-kin, and garnered into the sacerdotal treasury." 2

The result is, the old papal law that, as we saw,once held in Italy, seems to be in force in Ire-land, that every will must contain a legacy to theOhurch; but even a legacy does not content it, for,as Mr. M'Carthy shows, too often the Church takesevery penny of the estate." I have been told thatrich Roman Catholics in Ireland, afraid of thedemands of the priests at their death-beds, and ofthe tampering that they practise with wills, prefer

1 Priests and I'eople, by Michael M'Carthy, p. 148.2 IdJmr" p. xiv, 3 Idem, pp. 109-149.


to die intestate, and allow the civil power to dealwith their estates, which assigns one-third to thewidow and two-thirds to the children. I may saythat the same death-bed terrorism goes on in America;and to check it, the State of Massachusetts has passeda law that no legacy for a benevolent object is valid un-less made thirty days before the death of the testator.Father Healy, a priest celebrated for his witty say-ings, and a friend of the late Archbishop of Dublin,Lord Plunket, got into trouble because he did notpersuade a rich gentleman in Dublin, whom heattended when dying, to leave a fat legaey tothe Church. Ireland might be one or the richestand happiest lands in Europe, but for the exorbit-ant greed and criminal rapacity of the RomallChurch.

Assuredly there is no exaggeration in the Italiancartoon that represents the Roman Catholic Churchstealing John Bull's gold by the barrow-full.Besides which, the amount of his real propertywhich she has got possession of has to be takeninto account. In 1902 this was valued in Englandand Wales alone at £50,000,000,1 and she has beenadding to it every day since then; so that now itcannot be less than £65,000,000 or £70,000,000.When to this sum is added her vast possessions inIreland, and her not inconsiderable wealth in landand buildings in Scotland, I suppose we are under themark in valuing her gross estate at £100,000,000.

1 The Catholic T1:'IIICS, April 2[" 1902.

96 THE PAPAL~CONQUEST

But the plunder which the Church has securednow, is nothing to what she hopes to win. She makesno secret of her intention of possessing herself of allthe old cathedrals, churches, church schools, and otherecclesiastical property in England - euphemistic-ally calling this robbery "the restoration of theChurch of England's lands and revenues." 1 More-over, in Ireland she hopes to obtain the wholeproperty of loyalist Protestants, ecclesiastical andsecular; and, as I shall in a later chapter show, todrive the hated heretics out of the land, or to enrichit with their blood.

It is, thus, not a share of John Bull's gold thatwill suffice the Roman Catholic Church, she wants thewhole of it. Like any other brigand, she wants hervictim's purse-yes, and in this case she wants hervictim's life as well. As Parkman, the Americanhistorian, says: "To plunder heretics is good for thesoul as well as for the purse; and broil-and massacrehave double attraction when promoted into a meansof salvation." 2 Probably she is looking forward tothe day. when, as it was in the Netherlands, in1567, under the Duke of Alva and his Council ofBlood, the lives in many cases were taken for thesake of the purse. As Motley, in his Rise ofthe Dutch Republic, says, "It was necessary thatthe blood torrent should flow at once through theNetherlands in order that the promised golden

1 A Memorial of a Reformation in England, reprinted 1890.2 Pioneers of France in the New World, by F. Parkman, p. 102.

IL cava.(The Den).

ESSO AFFERRA, MUNGE, INGHIOTTE ... "E DOPO IL PASTO HA PlUFAME CHE PRIA:'-DANTE

(It seizes,munches, swallows. "and after the meal is hungrier than 6ejtJre.")

L'AS1NO, 4/a ... 1903.J [By/avo"r if/heHON. G. PODRKCCA


river-a yard deep according to his vaunt-shouldbegin to irrigate the thirsty soil of Spain," 1 and so"the greatest crime was to be rich, and one whichcould be expiated by no virtues, however signal."Thus" the invasion resembled both a crusade againstthe infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into theauriferous Indies." 2

The invasion of England by the Roman CatholicChurch is a " treasure-hunting bray"; nor would shescruple if it were in her power to run Alva's" bloodtorrent" through the land, if thereby she could secureAlva's "golden river, a yard deep," to water thethirsty soil of the Vatican. English gold wouldthen redress her bankruptcy. A brigand Church isat your pockets! WAKE UP, JOHN BULL!

1 The Rise of the Dutch Republic, by Motley, p. 247.2 Idem, p. 251.

7

VI

The Army of Invasion

.. Behold yon Isle, by palmers, pJJgrlms trod,Men bearded, bald, cowled, uncowled, shod, unshod,Peeled, patched, and pIebald, Iinsey-wolsey brothers,tirsve mummers, sleeveless some, and shirtless

others. "-POPE. The Dunciad, Bk. III.

WHEN, in July 1588, during the reign ofQueen Elizabeth, the Roman CatholicChurch last attempted the Conquest of

England, she came with a fleet of one hundred andthirty Spanish galleons, carrying thirty thousandfighting men led by the Duke of Medina Sidonia,besides an army not less numerous, led by the Dukeof Parma, which lay at Dunkirk, ready to be landedunder cover of the guns of the galleons. One can onlywish that now, when the Catholic Church is againattempting this same enterprise, she would comein the same way. We would then know where wewere, and what to do.

I have no doubt she does intend, sooner or later,so to come; and that she hopes, too, by securing acertain combination of Britain's enemies, and bycreating insurrections in distant parts of the Empire,

98

THE A RMY OF INvASION 99in India, in South Africa, or even in Egypt, 80 asto draw off a part of our defence fleet at the momentof attack, to make good her intention. But sheknows better than to attempt in the meantime anopen warfare with regular troops. The way hasto be prepared for that, by a different class ofsoldiery, trained in a different school of strategy,and employing very different tactics.

It will be remembered that years before theArmada weighed anchor in the 'fagus on its ill-starred mission, EnglaIHl was overrun by Coutinr-ntul.Iesuits, priests, monks, and siHtCl'S. The" "(~llIilJ;lI'Y

priests" from Rheims were lL notorious ('OIl t.i IIgf~lJf, ofthat army. These were so strategically IUTIt/lW~d

and placed, that their influence was made to be felteverywhere. They were in the Court of QueenElizabeth, they were in the castles of the nobles, inthe houses of the wealthy, and even in the cottagesof the poor. Jesuits wormed their way into society,going from house to house, "slinking noiselesslyabout in pairs like black cats," as Dickens has toldus he saw them do in Genoa. They were the fore-runners, the skirmishers, the sappers and miners ofthe Armada and Parma's army. They were survey-ing, examining, reconnoitring with a view to anopen conquest; but they were doing more, they werethemselves in a subtle, unostentatious, almost unseenway, undermining the Commonwealth, and making,or attempting to make, a Conquest of Englund.

The very same thing is happening to-clay. The


Italian cartoon sets before our eyes a true picturewhen it represents priests and monks swarmingaround the person of John Bull, securing him bymeans of ropes and stakes, clambering up all overhis body, whilst hundreds more are ready to comefrom neighbouring buildings for the assault. Weare all aware, though we pay but little heed to it,that priests, monks, and nuns are landing daily onour shores, and have been doing so uninterruptedlyfor months and years past. Once, not so long ago,they were a scattered few, so few that they wereunknown, unseen, in large tracts of country, andtheir presence in many other parts excited a senseof surprise and curiosity. I remember when, sometwenty-five or thirty years ago, the presence of apriest on board a North of Scotland Company'ssteamship awoke these feelings amongst the passen-gers, when such an one was not to be found in allOrkney, and when a man was pointed out to me in astreet in Kirkwall as the only Catholic in the town,and he was a scavenger, and an importation from theGreen Isle.

Now, I am afraid, they are as numerous in thenorth as penguins. And if such a change has takenplace in the extremities of the country, what has itnot been in the busy centres of population, and inLondon, its great throbbing heart 1 I believe thatwithin the memory of the present generation, priestsin Great Britain have increased tenfold, monkstwentyfold, and nuns thirty or fortyfold. It is

THE ARMY OF INVASION 101

impossible to know the number of monks and nunsin our land, for no statistics are available. Mr.David Williamson tells us that he wrote to one ofthe best-informed authorities in France to ascertainhow many had come to us from that country. Thereply was: "It is impossible to obtain statistics foreven an approximate estimate of the number ofmonks and nuns who have migrated to England.Commissioners of Police are not charged to overseein any way this exodus .... It might be assumedthat the exodus to England has been great, as wellas to other countries under British rule." 1 I sllppnsethe numbers now amount to ten ... of t}wllsHnclH.

The priests are said to number some five t.housand.In the diocese of Westminster alone there are somefour hundred, that is more than there are inVenice; and in that same diocese there are far moremonks and nuns than there are in the whole ofItaly, if we except foreign religious houses, which arefalsely registered as the private properties of foreignRoman Catholics, whose money paid for them, andthe inmates of which are also falsely registered asthe personal servants of these purchasers. Thesemonasteries and their inmates have no existence inthe sight of the law, and the day is not far distantwhen the law will put them down. What holds of'Westminster, holds also of Southwark, of Birming-ham, and probably of other dioceses.

I suppose nearly every Monastic Order that existslOUT Latest Im-usion, by David Williamson, p. 38.


throughout Christendom is now represented inEngland-Augustinians, Benedictines, Carthusians,Cistercians, Dominicans, Franciscans, Marist Brothers,Nuns of the Holy Spirit, Oblates, Passionists,Redemptorists, Servites, Sisters of the Sacred Heart,Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Sisters of the HolyGhost, Trappists, and many others, not to mentionJesuits of world-wide infamy.

And the cry is, Still they come! Why shouldthey not? Other countries have become too hot forthem. In Italy and in France, by their disloyaltyand treasonable practices, and by their glaring im-moralities, they made their names to stink in thenostrils of Government and people, who rootedthem up and drove them outside their borders.An Italian cartoon represented its Government, underthe figure of a strong buxom housemaid with pails ofwater and a big broom, sweeping them out of thehouse with all their lies and impostures, whilst sheuttered the words, " Alletamaio 0' (To the dunghill).As we have seen, in Germany, Spain, Austria, Portugal,Belgium, and in other countries, the Monastic Ordersare all tied down to a greater or lesser extent bypenal statutes. In these lands their action is watchedand restricted. To England alone they can comewithout let or hindrance, and do practically whatthey like. The Aliens Act is a dead letter so far asthey tire concerned. It is true, many of them havecome disguised. Many came in private boats, not inthe public steamships. But no matter how or in


what guise they come, no question is asked of them,no restriction is put upon them.

But there is another reason why these monks,priests, and nuns come, and that is because they aresent. The Conquest of England is a great enterprise.It requires many workers, and so the Pope and theRoman Curia have ordered them to our shores. Ihave it on high authority that that is one reasonwhy the Pope would not come to terms with theFrench Government, although urged to do so by amajority of the Bishops. And that is the reasonwhy those Bishops were denounced in the clericalpress, some papers published in Rome using mostsevere language; and why the Pope, as I have alreadysaid, commanded them to disobey the law. I maysay, however, that the Pope takes the loss of Francevery lightly, being confident that he will recouphimself by the Conquest of England. A friend ofmine, lately in conversation with him, was astonishedat two things-the violent way in which he con-demned Modernism, and the calm way in which hespoke of the loss of France.

The Pope, then, is throwing his troops intoEngland. People are sometimes amazed at thenumber of men trained to arms in countries where,conscription is in force, which, I may say in passing,is the making of young men in these countries.Officers in Italy have often told me that it is notthe drilling of the bodies of conscripts that givesthem so much trouble, as the drilling of their minds.


They have to instil into them the notions of orderand method, and self-discipline and self-control,and make them practise these till they becomehabits. They are better men and better citizens,as well as soldiers, for ever after. People, then,are amazed at the number of men thus trained toarms in a conscript country; but what in anycountry do they amount to, compared with thearmy of the Roman Catholic Church? That Churchhas her soldiers in the heart of every country-com-panies, battalions, in some cases regiments-andthey can be moved about and concentrated at anygiven spot.

Dr. Adam Smith's description of the Papal Armyin the Middle Ages, holds in every particular to-day.He says: "The clergy of all the different countriesof Europe were formed into a sort of spiritual army,dispersed in different quarters indeed, but of whichall the movements and operations could now bedirected by one head, and controlled by one uniformplan. The clergy of each particular country mightbe considered as a particular detachment of thatarmy, of which the operations could easily be sup-ported and seconded by all the other departmentsquartered in the different countries round about.Each department was not only independent of thesovereign of the country in which it was quartered,and by which it was maintained, but dependentupon a foreign sovereign who could at any timeturn its arms against the sovereign of that particular

THE ARMY OF INVASION 105country, and support them by the arms of all theother detachments." 1

At present, then, the great Papal Army is beingconcentrated, by the command of their General-in-Chief, in Great Britain.

In Great Britain, too, they are all working inunity for its Conquest. I need not say that I donot use the word "unity" in the Christian senseof the term. The Roman Catholic Church is nevertired of taunting Protestants on their manydivisions. Such divisions, to my mind, are neit Iterstrange nor regrettahle. They arc the natural fruit.of thought and life, for where these are, t.hcr« III list

be diversity and division. But what iii remarkuhleis Protestant unity, that unity which COJlHi,'i!Hintellectually in a common clinging to the founda-tion doctrine of our creed, justification by faith in theLord Jesus Christ, without the mediation of the priestin the Mass; which consists spiritually in a commonexperience of the Holy Spirit's action in a changeof heart; and which consists practically in a commonmanifestation of a holiness of life; a unity thatmakes them in their different churches, "folds" ofthe Good Shepherd, Who will ultimately gatherthem into one great "flock." Of that real unity,unity in Christ, and in the communion of the HolySpirit, and in purity of life, the Roman CatholicChurch knows nothing. Mr. Ruskin, in his Stonesof Venice, tells us that he never met a Catholic III

I fI'nuth of S«{i'm", l,y Adam Smith, vol. iii. PP: 326-7.


Italy who had any sincere belief in any of thedoctrines of his Church, and I can say the same.Indeed, I have never met a priest or monk whoseemed to believe anything, or who knew what wasmeant by conversion and spiritual experience, orwho did not live, as a Cardinal confessed to a friendof mine that he lived, " as he liked." But one thingthe Roman Oatholics have got in common, and thatis a profession of belief, on the strength of authority,not in the truth, but in what Mr. Ruskin calls"a dead body of lies"; 1 they have also a stereo-typed liturgy and ritual, also signs and magicalacts; and above all, they are bound together by ablind and unquestioning obedience to their superiors-the Pope is never tired of inculcating upon allthe duty of such an obedience, and by a commoninterest in a money-making, pleasure-giving, power-bestowing organization. These things give theChurch a formidable external and organic unity, whichenables her diverse and numerous representatives inEngland to act together like the soldiers of an army.

Another thing that tells tremendously in theirfavour is, that they live and work in secret. TheseMonastic Orders are screened from all publicity; theyare entirely removed from the wholesome influence ofpublic opinion; they are practically outside the civiland the criminal law of the land. The king'sauthority stops at the door of the monastery andthe nunnery_ Inside those lofty ramparts and

I Stones of Venice, by Ruskin, vol. i. Appendix 12.

THE A RMY OF INvASION 107

massive barred gates the representatives of law andorder never enter. I know that theoretically theyare subject to the law of the country, but practicallythey are not. They are a law unto themselves.Their houses are, like the Vatican in Italy, extra-terri torial.

Sir Godfrey Lushington, in his article in TheNational Hevieu), for May 1903, in which he dealswith Monastic Institutions, and from which I havealready made some extracts, has the followingpassage, in which he fully and forcibly sets forththis matter. He says :--

"In practice, religious houses an' shrouded illsecrecy. No one knows anything about them.The Home Office does not, Nor does the L(wldGovernment Board. Nor does Dublin Castle. Nordoes Somerset House. The census gives no atatisticsshowing the total number of religious houses andtheir locality, or the number of nuns, or the numberof penitents, or the number of inmates. Still lessis there any official knowledge of the rules withregard either to penitents or inmates. If, for instance,we wanted such rules in the case of a House of theGood Shepherd, we should, I suppose, have to go forthem to Angers, or probably to Rome." 1

In The Times of August 3, 1875, the thenHome Secretary if';reported to have said: "That 1I0

specific report of the deaths in monastic and con-ventual institutions was to be found in the Registrar-

I ri, Nat'ional Ren"IIJ, :\lay 1903, p.3R9.


General's Office"; and this disgraceful state ofmatters has continued since then till now, and isstill unremedied.

This secrecy, then, of which Sir Godfrey Lushing-ton and the Home Secretary speak, it will be noticed,covers everything. It covers, not only the componentparts and numbers of this great invading army, butalso their doings. It envelops, in thick darkness, notonly those deeds of shame-and often of crime--thathave made these houses in every land and in everyage "habitations of cruelty," and "holds of everyunclean and hateful bird "-of which I shall havemore to say later on--but it also effectively conceals(what it is more to my purpose here to note) all actsof treason, and all intrigues and plottings, and allconcealment of arms and ammunition, that may betaking place in preparation for the final Conquest ofEngland.

And this host, this army of priests, monks, andnuns now invading England, has come to stay. Itis not here simply on a foraging expedition. It ishere to remain. It is quartering itself with a viewto permanently abiding in the land, of ultimatelypossessing the land. It is lengthening its cords andstrengthening its stakes. It is making sure its holdupon John Bull. It is buying estates, the trans-actions being generally carried out through agents,who conceal from the sellers who the real purchasersare.' It is building cathedrals, churches, chapels,

1 Appendix VII.


palaces, colleges, monasteries, and nunneries by thescore. The buildings must keep pace with the influxof this great army. A hundred years ago there wereno monasteries in Great Britain; fifty years ago theycould almost be counted upon the fingers of the hand;now they amount to nearly four hundred. Thenunneries run up to four figures, and so also do thechurches, chapels, colleges, schools, and mission halls.During the last few years monasteries have increasedat the rate of one a month, and convents at the rateof one a week.

"Whilst these prisons, fortresses, and other build-ings of the enemy, are scattered throughout thelength and breadth of the land, they are found con-centrated in certain places strategically favourablefor their designs. Mr. David Williamson says: "Indetailing other places where the foreign Ordershave settled recently, I have not hitherto mentionedthe Channel Islands. Their peculiar history andconstitution have made them an ideal place of refuge,and in the Islands many foreigners have alwaysresided. Some facts as to the Jesuits may be ofinterest. I understand that, in making theirarrangements for living here, they have always hadto employ roundabout methods; but that is usuallythe case with their purchase, or lease of land orhouses under British control. I am informed thatthere are in the Islands at least fifteen hundredmembers of foreign Religious Orders, and they arereceiving additions from France frequently ....

110 THE PAPAL CONQUEST'

The chief home of the Jesuits in Jersey IS 'St.Louis,' and is in St. Saviour's Road, St. Heliers. Atpresent there are about ninety persons resident inthis building, which has been in their hands for overthirty years. The majority of the men are French, butthe whole community is cosmopolitan, and includesSpaniards, Danes, Irishmen, etc. . . . Besides thebuildings described as occupied by Jesuits in Jersey,there is a large Creche, adapted for the care of littlechildren. . . . In other parts of the Channel Islandsthere are foreign Catholics, and they have, as in thecase of Jersey, received additions since the passingof the Associations Act. Islands always attract suchreligious communities, owing to their isolation fromthe rest of the population. This is doubtless thereason why they have flocked to the Isle of Wight.In islands there is usually a chance of arriving anddeparting without the same amount of observationas would be the case in a town in England, wherethe peculiar garb of their religious communitiesattracts immediate attention." 1

In Italy, the seat and shrine of the Papacy, itis very different. These monastic institutions havebeen suppressed long years ago. It is illegal for halfa dozen monks or sisters to reside together, exceptin certain exceptional circumstances. In 1855,when General Alfonso La Marmora left Italywith a contingent of Piedmontese troops to be ourally in the Crimean War, King Victor Emmanuel II.

lOur Latest Inoasion, by David Williamson, pp. 72, 73, 75, 76.

THE ARMY OF INVASION IIIwent to Genoa to see the embarkation; and, asthe ships weighed anchor, he exclaimed to La Mar-mora: "Happy General, you are going off to theCrimea to fight the Russians. I have to remain athome to fight monks and nuns." But monks andnuns being in the citadel, and fighting dishonourablyunder the garb of a pretended piety, are not anenemy to be despised. This Italy realized, for asone part of the peninsula after another-first theNorthern, then the Southern, and then the centralPapal States-joined the kingdom, under thehegemony of the House of Savoy, instantly theReligious Houses were dealt with. They were allsuppressed and their properties were eonfiscetcd,At the same time the life-interest of the monks andnuns was preserved, they being allowed to remainin their respective Houses till reduced by death orsome other cause to six, when these were removed toanother House, and the State took possession ofthe property. In this way all the monasteries andnunneries in Italy have gradually fallen in, andthese, as a rule, magnificent buildings, on choicesites, with great gardens, instead of being the hauntsof idleness and vice, are now serving useful purposes,being barracks for soldiers, hospitals for the sick,museums for art treasures, and schools for thepeople.

Then it is illegal for the Roman Catholic Churchto own in Italy a brick of building or an inch of land.She cannot build, she cannot buy, she cannot inherit


real property. If a building is left to her, it mustwithin a certain brief time be turned into money, orsuffer confiscation. Every church, every ecclesiasticalstructure throughout the whole of Italy, belongs tothe State, which only lends these buildings to thepeople for religious services. I say, to the people,not to the Roman Catholic Church; for if a majorityof the inhabitants in any parish were adherents of aProtestant Church, they could claim, and would begranted a building in which to conduct their worship.The Roman Catholic Church being in the meantimethe Established Church of the land, and the peoplenominally belonging to it, her services are consequentlysaid in the churches. But at any moment all mightbe changed. The Church is but a tenant at will; eventhe Vatican, St. Peter's, and the few other buildingswhich the Pope uses, are not his. They have onlybeen assigned to him for his use by Act of Parliament.Even the literary and art treasures they contain arenot his. When the Italian Government took pos-session of Rome in 1870, an accurate inventorywas made of everything in these buildings, whichare all inscribed as State property, and woe be tothe Church if anything disappears. The Pope is in"furnished apartments" kindly lent to him by theItalian Government from day to day. At anymoment Parliament, that grants their use, maywithdraw the privilege, which, when the Vaticandoes something more than usually offensive to Italiannationality, it has more than once threatened to do.


"Cancel the Papal Guarantees" has from time totime resounded through the streets of Rome.

England never rendered Italy a better servicethan when it insisted, in the face of Europe, that thePapal Guarantees should be no matter of inter-national arrangement, but that they should beexclusively and absolutely an affair of Italy herself.In this, as in other internal affairs of the kingdom,the principle was laid down that no nation had theright to interfere. And this was no easy matterto carry into practice; for at that time the preposter-ous doctrine which Mr. Gladstone speaks of in hisItaly and Her Church, was held, namely, "that allmembers of the Latin communion, dispersed through-out the world, are invested with a' right of propercitizenship in Italy; which deprives the people ofthat Peninsula of their moral right to dispose oftheir own soil, and which authorizes this fictitiousentity, this non-resident majority, to claim that inthe very heart of the Peninsula a- territory shall beset apart from their jurisdiction, for the purpose ofsubserving the spiritual interests of Roman Catholicsand of their wide-spreading Church. The votariesof this doctrine hold with perfect consistency, thatsuch a right, being one of proper citizenship, may heenforced by the sword." 1

In any case, the arrangements Italy made withthe Papal Church were far too generous; and of coursethe Church went in her hostility to the Government

1 Gleani'1l1Jsof Past Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol, vi, V. lU6.8


outside of them. Mr. Gladstone has said: "Withwhat appears to an English eye a lavish prodigality,successive Italian Governments have made over theecclesiastical powers and privileges of the Monarchy,not to the Church of the country for the revival ofthe ancient, popular, and self-governing elements ofits constitution, but to the Papal Chair, for theestablishment of ecclesiastical despotism, and thesuppression of the last vestiges of independence.This course, so difficult for a foreigner to appreciate,or even to justify, has been met, not by reciprocalconciliation, but by a constant fire of denunciationsand complaints." 1 And again Mr. Gladstone, inanother of his writings, said: "The licence whichhas been allowed to vituperation, and to seditiouslanguage, when used by the ministers of religion andtheir organs, might by some be ascribed to chivalryrun mad." 2 The result was that the State was com-pelled in self-defence to pass the New Penal Code,to which I have already made reference, and of which,as I have said, I intend to speak more in detail in afuture chapter.

Italy has thus made laws which, if only fully putinto force, would rid her of monks and nuns; and shehas made it illegal for the Church to hold real estatein the land, and has made her, the Pope, and all inconnection with her, but" tenants at will."

Italy calls on us to learn the lesson which she and1 The Vatican Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 49.2 Gleanings oj Past YeaTs, by W. E. Gladstone, vol. vi. p. 204.


other Continental nations likewise teach us, namely,that it is unjust to the subjects of the realm to letthese representatives of a foreign inimical powercongregate in the land, or to permit them to acquirereal estate in it.

But at present the learning of this lesson seemsfar off; for not only does this army come, as we haveseen, without let or hindrance, not only is it acquiringteal estate and raising buildings everywhere, but thebroad acres it acquires are amongst the finest in allthe land, and the monasteries and nunneries it israising arc on the fairest and most desirable sites,viewed from au msthctical, and, what is more totheir purpose, from a strategical point of view.

It has been so at all times, and in all lands, inthe history of monasticism. Monks and nuns neverfail to make their material safety and well-being afirst care. Whether they think they have a goodchance or not of a celestial paradise, they at anyrate make sure of having a terrestrial one. \YhenGeneral Garibaldi was fighting for Italian freedomand unity, he and his men were often forced tomake their supper off a field of beans or growinggrain, and rest at night in the open air; but if amonastery was within reach he stretched a point toget to it, for there he knew his troops would findwarm food, good wine, and soft beds. Especially, hefelt sure that this would be the case if the religioushouse was tenanted by the Jesuits. Once whenhe entered such a house at Ferrara, and demanded


hospitality, the fathers protested they could supplyhim with nothing. They were poor. They lived onpolenta (Indian corn) and scraps of bread, and theydrank only water. According to them their treasurewas in heaven, and their hearts there also. "None ofyour nonsense," said Garibaldi; "I will blow the roofoff your house if you do not furnish a liberal tablefor my famished men." He then ordered a search tobe made. The place was found to be full of thechoicest foods, fruits, and wines. "Now," he said tothe Jesuits, "get to work, prepare the food, set thetable, and wait upon us, or I shall turn you all outinto the fields for the night." Italian patriots werenever better feasted or served.

The same professions of poverty are made inEngland, whilst the same luxury of living will befound beneath many a monastic roof. Everythingmust be in keeping with the magnificent estatesand palatial structures of the invading hosts.Everything must be in keeping with the gloriousConquest they have in hand. They are handlingEnglish gold now. Their hands are deep in JohnBull's pockets, and they live in comfort in anticipa-tion of the time when all his wealth and resourceswill be at their command.

An Army of Invasion is billeted upon you.WAKE UP, ENGLAND!

VIIA Denationalized Army

" The Act of Supremacy was put into force todistinguish the loyal from the disloyal. . . .The regular clergy, we know from the lettersof Chapuys, were at heart disloyal to a man. "

-J. A. FROU],g. Life aud Letters of Erasmus,!,. 4:24.

IT may be asked, and I have often heard it asked,Why should not priests, monks, and nunsbe allowed to come freely to our shores, to

go where they like, and to buy estates and raisebuildings on them to their hearts' content? Theyare loyal and law-abiding people. They are engagedin a holy and beneficent mission, teaching, preaching,and caring for the poor and outcast. They arereally seeking the highest good of the land.

It may be recalled that exactly similar state-ments were made in regard to the priests and monkswho inundated England ill Queen Elizabeth's time.As Mr. Froude says, they have been described as"the innocent enthusiasts who came from Rheimsto preach the Catholic faith to the English- people .

. . Their mission, it was said, was purely religious." 1

1 English Seanten 1:n the Si:deenth Cent1try, by J. A. Froude, P: 141>.117


And yet Queen Elizabeth, with all her sympathyfor them and the Catholic faith, was forced toconsent to their banishment from the realm asfomenters of sedition, and conspirators against herown life. "All Jesuits and seminary priests wererequired to leave the country instantly under painof death." 1

During the first quarter of the sixteenth centurymany Spanish adventurers sailed to the West Indiesto search in the Caribbean Sea, and along thenorthern coast of South America, for golden regionsand pearl islands. These freebooters were all fervidCatholics, and they invariably carried with them intheir ships a number of priests and monks for theconversion of the Indians. Washington Irving tellsus in his Third Voyage of Alonzo de Ojeda (1509),that when that adventurer and his companionslanded in any place, with the intention of stealingthe gold and making slaves of the natives, they firstof all, through their priests and monks, addressedto them the following words: "God our Lord, oneand eternal, created the heavens and the earth,and one man and one woman, from whom you andwe, and all the people of the earth, were and aredescendants, as well as all who shall come afterus. . . . All these people were given in charge byGod our Lord to one person, named St. Peter, whowas thus made lord and superior of all the peopleof the earth, whom all should obey. The successors

1 Engli.h Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, by J. A. Froude, p. 144.

A DENATIONALIZED ARMY 119

of St. Peter are the Popes, who are the fathers andgovernors of all mankind. One of these Popesmade a donation of these islands and continents ofthe ocean sea, and all that they contain, to theOatholic Kings of Castile .... Therefore I prayand entreat you to recognize the Ohurch as thesovereign and superior of the universal world; andthe supreme pontiff, called Pope, in her name, andhis majesty in his place as superior and sovereignking of the islands and of terra firma by virtue ofthe said donation, and that you consent that thesereligious fathers declare and preach to you theforegoing." 1

The Indians always listened attentively to thereading of this preposterous document, although, asWashington Irving tells us, they would sometimespithily criticize it, as when they said: "As to theassertion that there was but one God, the Sovereignof Heaven and Earth, it seemed to them good, andthat such must be the case; but as to the doctrinethat the Pope was regent of the world in place ofGod, and that he had made a grant of their countryto the Spanish king, they observed that the Popemust have been drunk to give away what was nothis, and the king must have been somewhat madto ask at his hands what belonged to others." 2

However, they generally received the Spaniards

1 Voyages and Discoveries of the Companiom of Columbus, by Washing-ton Irving, p. 62.

2 Idem, p. 119.


very kindly and hospitably, allowing them to settleamongst them, believing them to be as guileless, ashonest, and as sincere as themselves. But it alwaysended one way. The Spaniards stole their gold,treacherously murdered their chiefs (the priestsstanding by to give them absolution), reduced themto a state of slavery, and sent them in chains totoil for them in the gold mines.

The Italians believe that, as the "John Bull"cartoon shows us, this is exactly how the Catholicpriests, monks, and nuns are behaving in Englandto-day. Under pretence of preaching the Gospel,caring for the poor, and seeking the moral andspiritual good of the land, they are picking JohnBull's pockets of his gold, putting handcuffs onhis wrists, fetters on his feet, and binding him withcords, reducing him to a state of slavery, and settingthe Pope on his head. And the Italians, from a longand bitter experience, are pretty good judges ofthese proceedings. Besides, they have the advan-tage that onlookers at a game often have over thoseplaying it, they can see better what is going on. Aswe have seen, too, the Church has already givenEngland to Mary as her dowry, just as the Indians'territory was given to the Kings of Castile: so thepicture is thus complete in every particular.

Without, however, resting content with theItalian view of these monks and nuns, althoughundoubtedly it is the correct one, let us examine alittle for ourselves, and see whether they are here as


loyal subjects, pursuing a beneficent mission, or arereally the Pope's army, come for the conquest of theland.

In the month of October 1908, Viscount Esherand Field -Marshal Sir George White addressedmeetings in Edinburgh, the former on the subjectof" Patriotism," and the latter on that of" NationalDefence." 1 Both speakers lauded "Patriotism"-which it is fashionable in some quarters now todepreciate as a feeble sentiment-as one of the mostbeautiful and most precious, God-given principlesin our nature. They emphasized the fact that itought to be It ruling passion ill our minds, undsaid that every man worthy of the name shouldask himself every evening what he had done duringthe day for the good of his countrymen, even at therisk of self-sacrifice. Dr. Arnold of Rugby ex-pressed the same sentiment, when he said that "ourcountry claims, not only love, but duty, the serviceof our bodies in suffering, if need be, even to thedeath."!

Will anyone dare to say that there is a priest, ormonk, or nun within the borders of Great Britainand Ireland who could stand these tests of loyalty?Does anyone believe that one of these persons askshimself or herself each day, or any day, "How canI best serve my country, even to the point of self-sacrifice? " The thing is incredible. He may ask

I The Scotsman, October 20, 1908.t Sermons, Dr. Arnold, series iii. sermon xv.


himself, "How can I best serve my Church, or myOrder, or myself?" but the thought of country iefar from his mind, unless it be in the connection,"How can I subjugate it to my Church?" Thepassion of Church is stronger in them than that ofcountry.

In what I have said, I refer to all priests, monks,and nuns in the land, whether native or imported.But now if we think of the latter class alone, ofthose imported who flood the country, the very ideaof applying to them the tests of patriotism, of which Ihave spoken, is absurd. Who are they? Foreigners.And how has the Pope been able to send the bulkof them to our shores? Because, as we have seen,they could not remain in their own land. Theirpresence there was found to be damaging to society,and they would not obey the law. And can it bethought that people thus disloyal to their ownrulers, and centres of evil influence in their owncountries, will be found loyal to King Edward, andstriving to advance the best interests of ProtestantEngland? The idea is monstrous. Even thoughthey have come here with the aureole of the martyron their brows, they are simply soldiers in thePope's army, and the inveterate foes of ProtestantChristianity, bent on the Conquest of England.

I wonder if there are in England many RomanCatholic laymen even who could stand the testsof patriotism of which we are speaking? I do notbelieve it. Many may think they could, but they


will find out their mistake when the time of testcomes. Cardinal Manning once loudly praised the"Catholicity" of Lord Denbigh, because he said thathe was "a Catholic first and an Englishman after-wards." 1 The Cardinal wrapped up that sentiment inthe idea of good" Catholicity," thus imposing it onall who claim to possess that commodity. Indeed,in the case of too many perverts, not only is it truethat they are Catholics first and Englishmen after-wards, but the "afterwards" lags so far behind thatpractically they cease to be Englishmen at all. Ionce asked one of our most distinguished statesmen,who had a seat in more than one Cabinet, if hebelieved it possible that a Roman Catholic couldkeep his Church out of his office? He answeredunhesitatingly that he did not believe it possible. Ithen asked him further (and I put the same questionto another statesman) if it were true that a certainRoman Catholic Peer then in office did not contin-ually use his social and political influence in order tofoist his co-religionists into Government offices? Theyboth said that not only was that true, but that hecanvassed amongst his colleagues on behalf of them.They both knew it by a troublesome experience.Like Lord Will-be-will in John Bunyan's Holy War," he would range and rove throughout all the streetsof Mansoul," and "would make himself even as anabject to cry up his valiant prince (the Pope)." 2

1 The Times, January 22, 1873.2 Holy War, by Bunyan, p. 25.


It is worthy of notice that a very great numberof those second in command in departments of theCivil Service at home, and in the Colonies, are RomanCatholics. The filling of such posts by her emissariesis part of the cunning policy of the Roman CatholicChurch, and it has been adopted, no doubt, for thefollowing reason. In the hands of such mengenerally rests the power of recommending candidatesfor vacant posts, and the power of advancing tohigher posts those already in the service. Of course,in making such recommendations, the chief intereststudied is that of the Roman Catholic Church. Itis the same thing in the Diplomatic Service. Thereare undoubtedly far too many Roman Catholic Ambas-sadors at Foreign Courts, men who are disqualifiedfrom supporting the interests of British Protestantsubjects abroad, when these conflict with the interestsof the Roman Catholic Church, as they must oftendo; but it will be found that sometimes, even whenthe Ambassadors are Protestants, their chief secre-taries are Roman Catholics.

It is a standing rumour in Rome that throughthe confessors of English Roman Catholics in highplaces, it not unfrequently happens that the delibera-tions of Cabinets and Privy Councils are known inthe Vatican before they are brought before Parlia-ment or the British people. It is the old story-Pope before King, Church before State.

But now I go a step farther, and say that notonly are the interests of the country subordinated

A DENATIONALIZli:D ARMY 125

to those of the Church by Roman Catholics ingeneral, clerical and lay, in every department oflife; but also in the breasts of many the divinelyimplanted instinct of patriotism is dead. What saysMr. Lecky on this point:-

"The Catholic Church is essentially a Statewithin a State, with its frontiers, its policy, and itsleaders entirely distinct from those of the nation;and it can command an enthusiasm and adevotion at least as powerful and as widespread asthe enthusiasm of patriotism. It claims to be ahigher authority than the State; to exercise aDivine, and therefore It Huprcme authority overbelief, morals, and education, and to pOHHesstheright of defining the limits of its own authority." l

Let us see exactly what this means. The Popeclaims to belong to no country, to be the subject ofno prince. By birth he is an Italian peasant, belong-ing to Venetia; and from 1835, when he was born,until 1903, when he was raised to the Popedom,that is, for sixty-eight years, he was an Italian sub-ject, as all his relatives, in their humble spheres oflife, are to-day. But now, as Pope, he is outsideItalian law. As we have already seen, the Vaticanis only granted to him by Act of Parliament,and so by Act of Parliament it can be takenfrom him; but unfortunately the Seventh Articleof the Papal Guarantees is to this effect: "Nopublic official or agent of police in the exercise

I Rationalinn in E'urope, by W. E. H. Lecky, chap. iv, p. 51.


of his duties can enter the residence of the HighPontiff." Until, then, these Guarantees are can-celled, the Pope is outside Italian jurisdiction.He has no country. He is denationalized. And soRoman Catholics, who own him as their Sovereign,separate themselves from their respective countries.They chose him who is denationalized as theirsovereign, thus denationalizing themselves. Theythus form, as Mr. Lecky says, "a State within aState, with its frontiers, its policy, and its leadersentirely distinct from those of the nation." Theyhave nothing in common with their fellow-citizens.The nation's aims, ambitions, and institutions ceaseto interest them. They have others of their ownunder their denationalized master. They have noking but the Pope, they have no country but theirChurch.

The idea, then, that these priests and monks andnuns have come to England on a beneficent mission,and that they care for the poor or desire to "savesouls," is utter nonsense. Religion is a cloak tohide their sinister ends. They are only wolves insheep's clothing. They form the great DenationalizedArmy of the Pope, sent for the Conquest of England.WAKE UP, JOHN BULL! 1

1 Appendix VIII.

VIII

The Army in the Field

"Sow seed-but Jet no tyrant reap,Find wealth-Jet no impostor keep,Weave robes-let not the idle wear,Forgearms-in your defence to bear."

-SUELLEY. To the Men of Englalld.

IHAVE said that the Roman Catholic ecclesiasticsnow in England, and many Roman Catholiclaymen too, are really in the country but not

of it; they have no country but their Church, and nosovereign but the Pope. They form the Pope'sgreat denationalized army sent for the Conquestof England. And even now they are pursuingactively the object of their mission. It is aneasy step from neutrality, from a condition ofdenationalization, to open hostility. It is an easystep from being a State within the State, to beinga State hostile to the State. Indeed, hostilitymust arise where there is an imperium in im-perio, and where these two powers have nothingin common, and when the one claims to controlthe other, as it is in this case, for here the Churchclaims, as Mr. Lecky has said, "to be a higher

127


authority than the State"; and, as Mr. Gladstoneshows, these arrogant and preposterous claims arepeculiar to the Roman Catholic Church. He says:" All other Christian bodies are content with freedomin their own religious domain. Orientals. Lutherans,Calvinists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Noncon-formists, one and all in the present day contentedlyand thankfully accept the benefits of civil order;never pretend that the State is not its own master;make no religious claims to temporal possessions oradvantages, and consequently never are in peril-ous collision with the State." He then, aftergenerously excepting the mass of Catholics asindividuals from his charge, goes on to quoteCardinal Manning, not only as confirming it, butas boasting of it, where he says: "There is notanother Church so called (than the Roman), norany community professing to be a Church, whichdoes not submit, or obey, or hold its peace whenthe civil governors of the world command." 1 Thereason, of course, of this is, because these" Churchesso called" of Cardinal Manning are Churchesof Christ, whereas the Roman Catholic Church isnot. As Dr. Hodge says of the Church, or Kingdom,of Christ, "it is spiritual, it is not of this world....Being designed to embrace all other kingdoms, it canexist under all forms of civil government withoutinterfering with any. It was especially in thisview that Christ declared that His Kingdom was

1 The Vatican Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, pp. 10, 11.

THE ARMY IN THE FIELD 129not of this world .... Every form or claim ofthe Church, therefore, which is imcompatible withthe legitimate authority of the State, is inconsistentwith the nature of Christ's Kingdom as declared byHimself."l The Roman Catholic Church, it cannotbe too constantly remembered, is emphatically" ofthis world." Giovanni Bovio, Professor of Philo-sophy in the University of Naples, and memberof the Italian House of Deputies, in his San Paolomakes Jesus appear at the gate of the Vatican, andrepresents the Pope as saying: "Turn that idle manaway, my kingdom is of this world." 2

And just because this Roman Catholic organiza-tion-" wickedly miscalled a Church," to use againthe words of Punch-is" of this world," is only apolitical institution aiming at temporal wealth andpower, therefore, in every country where she existsshe is the enemy of that country. This is a matterof history, and a matter of everyday observationand fact.

It was so in Italy during the War of Indepen-dence. In the struggles in Parliament and in thefield, from 1848 till 1870, the sympathies of theChurch and of the clericals were all with the enemy.And during the anxious years from 1855 to 1859,when the fate of Italy hung on the successful issueof Count Cavour's diplomacy with Napoleon III., itwas the intrigues of the clerical party in Piedmont,

1 Systematic Theology, by Dr. C. Hodge, vol. ii. pp. 604, 605.t San Paolo, by Giovanni Bovio,

9


throughout Italy, and in France, that caused himthe greatest trouble; and when at last Cavoursucceeded, as Mr. Gladstone indicated that he would,when he said: "The French Emperor in his dealingswith Cavour had entangled himself with a strongerand better informed intellect than his own," 1 andwhen the struggle for freedom was entered on, notonly did no Catholic power, or priest, or clericallayman take part in the battles of Montebello,Palestria, Magenta, and Solferino, fought fiftyyears ago (their jubilee is being observed as Iwrite), by which the Kingdom of Italy wascreated i but, as Massimo d'Azeglio said, they wouldhave willingly joined the enemy, as indeed theDuke of Modena, and many others did." The arch-priest of Montanara, a little place some five milesfrom Mantua, was discovered making signals to theAustrians by ringing in different ways the churchbells. The villagers wanted to have him shot;but the Italian general, instead, ordered him tocome to the camp to say mass and to bless thetroops."

In Italy at the present moment, with hardly anexception, every ecclesiastic-from the Pope to thepoorest parish priest, or to the most beggarly boywhom the Church has bought from some poverty-stricken parent to make a priest of-is the enemy

1 Life of Gladstone, by Morley, vol ii, p. 478.2 Italia degli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. i. p. 125.S La Battaglia di Cumtone e Montanara, by Valentino Giachi,

THE A RMY IN THE FIEJ~D unof his country. I have said "with hardly anexception," for priests who are loyal to their kingand country could be counted on the fingers of onehand; and the world generally hears of such, forthey are invariably called to account by theirsuperiors, and compelled, either to repent of theirpatriotism, or, like Don Romola Murri, now in theItalian House of Deputies, are condemned andexcommunicated. As Mr. Gladstone has said: "She(Italy) is the country whose very heart it is thefixed desire and design of the Roman Curia, and ofit" co-bettors throughout Christendom, to tear outof it" bleeding body, for the purpoflc of cn~djtlganew the fabric of the Temporal Power now crumbledin the dust." 1 The press of Italy, and members inboth its Houses of Legislature, frequently speak ofthe Church as the" Eternal Enemy."

Mr. Fronde, in his Times of Erasmus and Luther,tells us that in England, after the fall of CardinalWolsey, "the House of Commons complained thatthe clergy made laws in Convocation which the laitywere excommunicated if they disobeyed; yet the lawsmade by the clergy, the Commons said, were often atvariance with the laws of the realm." To this com-plaint Archbishop Warham replied, that "he wassorry for the alleged discrepancy; but inasmuch asthe laws made by the clergy were always in con-formity with the will of God, the laws of the realmhad only to be altered and then the difficulty would

1 Italy and Her Church, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 202.


vanish." 1 The cool insolence of the Archbishop'sreply, and its shameless mendacity in comparing theiniquitous laws of the clergy with the holy laws ofGod, takes away one's breath. Yet the" discrepancy,"which amounts to antagonism between the laws ofthe Church and those of the country, remainsstill; the law of the Ohurch or of the Pope isstill blasphemously identified with the law of God;and the insolence of the Archbishop's reply stillcharacterizes the language of his successors. In TheTablet of July 26, 1851, appears the followingmanifesto, written by someone who claims to speakin the name of all the Roman Catholics within theBritish Isles; and, so far as I know, disavowed bynone, but, on the contrary, virtually endorsed bymany since on public platforms and in the press:"Neither in England nor in Ireland will the RomanCatholics obey the law-that is, the law of theImperial Parliament. They have, or are likely tohave, before them two things called laws, whichunhappily (or happily) contradict each other. Bothcannot be obeyed, and both cannot be disobeyed.One of them is the law of God; the other is no lawat all; it pretends to be an Act of Parliament, butin the ethics of legislation it has no more force orvalue than a solemn enactment that the moon ismade of green cheese. Of these two things we needhardly say which will be obeyed and which disobeyed.The law of God-that is, the Pope's command-

1 Short Studiu on Great Subjects, by J. A. Froude, vol, i. p. 55.

THE ARMY IN THE FIELD 133will be, or rather has been, and is being, carried intoeffect; the Parlimentary lie will be spit upon, andtrampled under foot, and treated as all honest mentreat a lie-that is, rigorously disobeyed."

This language may sound like the wildest talk,like mere mad boastfulness. It may be so; butthere is a method in the madness, as it expresses theunchanging attitude of the Church in face of theState, down the centuries to the present time. Forthe Roman Catholic Church, not only to-day, as Mr.Lecky says, "claims to be a higher authority thanthis State. . . and to possess the right of definingthe limits of its own authority," but she openly claimsthe right to crush all States, and everything ill them-persons and things-opposed to her authority.She claims to undisputed sovereignty over the mindsand souls of men, and over nations. As Mr. Gladstonehas said: "Individual servitude, however abject, willnot satisfy the party now dominant in the LatinChurch: the State must also be a slave." 1

This claim the Church explicitly makes in theSyllabus of Pope Pio Nono, promulgated inDecember 1864, and which he calls the Church's"only anchor of safety for the coming time." Asis well known, this monstrous document consistsof eighty propositions, which condemn as heresiesalmost everything which civilized people, not to sayChristians, hold dear, and it anathematizes everyperson who dares to maintain anyone of them.

1 The Vatica'/l Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 40.


That is to say, not content with banning the cherishedopinions, beliefs, rights, institutions, and doings ofenlightened and Christian men, the Church bansalso the persons who hold them. We are hereconcerned mainly with those that touch on civilmatters; but I may say in passing that, in theearlier propositions, Protestants and Protestantismcome in for a whipping. Not only are thoseanathematized who say (Proposition 18) thatProtestantism is only another form of the Christianreligion, and that in the Protestant Church men mayequally, as in Catholic countries, please God; butthey are anathematized who say (Proposition 16)that man in any form of religion (other than theCatholic) may find eternal salvation, or iProposuioa17) who even dare to hope for such a thing. In alater proposition they are anathematized who saythat in Catholic countries Protestants or any otherbelievers may be allowed to hold public worship.In harmony with these propositions, Pope Pius x. inhis Compendium of Christian Doctrine (1906), says:"Protestantism, or the Reformed Religion, as itsfounders haughtily call it, is the sum of allheresies that ever existed before it, that have arisensince, or that may arise hereafter for the ruin ofsouls." 1

The propositions in the Syllabus that treat of civilmatters, in which the Church claims the right to set

1 Compendia della Doitrina Christiana, prescriuo do.Papa Pio X., p.398.

THE ARMY IN THE FIELD 135

the Pope on John Bull's head, and on the head ofeveryone else, are the following :-

Proposition 19. Let him be anathema who saysthat the Church is not a true and perfect Society,having the fullest liberty, and is not possessed of itsown inalienable rights, but that it belongs to theState to define what are its Civil rights, and thelimits of their exercise.

Proposition 20. Let him be anathema who saysthat the Ecclesiastical Power ought not to exerciseits authority without the licence or consent of theCivil Power.

Proposition 23. Let him be anathema who saysthat Roman Pontiffs and {Ecumenical Councilshave transgressed the limits of their power andusurped the rights of princes, or have erred indefining things touching faith and morals.

Proposition 24. Let him be anathema who saysthat the Church has not authority to use force,nor any temporal authority direct or indirect.

Proposition 25. Let him be anathema whosays that besides the power inherent in the Epis-copate, there is another conceded to it tacitly orexpressly by the Civil authority, which, therefore,when it wishes, it can take away.

Proposition 30. Let him be anathema who saysthat the Civil immunity of the Church and itsministers depend upon Civil right.

Proposition 31. Let him be anathema who says


that the Ecclesiastical Courts for the causes of theclergy, whether civil or criminal, ought to be en-tirely abolished.

Proposition 37. Let him be anathema whosays that a National Church may be institutednot subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff.

Proposition .42. Let him be anathema who saysthat in the conflict of Civil and Ecclesiastical lawsthe Civil law should prevail.

Proposition .45. Let him be anathema whosays that the entire control of the public schoolsought to be vested in the Civil authority, and sovested that no other authority has the right tointerfere in the matter of subjects of study, ofdiscipline, of degrees, or of the selection of teachers.

Proposition .48. Let him be anathema whosays that any kind of education for youth can beapproved by Catholics separated from the Catholicfaith, or from the authority of the Church.

Proposition 53. Let him be anathema whosays that the Civil power has the right to cancellaws that protect Religious Houses, break up thesehouses, and appropriate their possessions.

Proposition 5.4. Let him be anathema whosays that kings and princes are not only exemptfrom the jurisdiction of the Church, but even insettling questions of jurisdiction are above theChurch.

Proposition 71. Let him be anathema. whosays that marriage contracted according to a form


prescribed by the Civil Law, and not according tothat of the Council of Trent, is valid.

Proposition 73. Let him be anathema whosays that a Civil marriage is true matrimony, orthat a marriage is not nil that is not sacramen-tally contracted.

Proposition 77. Let him be anathema whosays that in this age it is no longer necessary thatthe Catholic religion be retained as the only religionof the State, to the exclusion of all others.

Proposition 80. Let him be anathema who saysthat the Roman Pontiff can, or ought to, reconcilehimself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism,and modern civilization,

In this connection I may give part of the oathwhich Archbishops and Bishops have to swear to attheir ordinations :-

" I (Archbishop or Bishop), Elect of the Church,will from this hour forth be faithful and obedientto the blessed Apostle Peter, to the holy RomanChurch, to our Lord the Pope, and to his successorscanonically installed. . . . The Roman Popedomand the royalties of St. Peter I shall help them. toretain and defend, saving my own order, againstevery man. The legate of the Apostolic See, inpassing and repassing, I shall honourably entertain,and assist in his necessities. The rights, honours,privileges, and authority of the holy Roman Church,of our Lord the Pope, and his successors aforesaid,


I shall give all diligence to preserve, defend, advance,and promote. . . . The rules of the holy Fathers,the Apostolic decrees and ordinances or appoint-ments, reservations, provisions, and mandates, Iwill observe with all my might, and cause to beobserved by others. Heretics, schismatics, andrebels against the same our Lord, and his succes-sors, I will persecute, and fight against to theutmost of my power.... So help me God, andthese his holy Gospels." 1

Well may Mr. Gladstone, in his Vatican Decrees,in view of this syllabus, contend that" Rome re-quires a convert, who now joins her, to forfeit hismoral and mental freedom, and to place his loyaltyand civil duty at the mercy of another." 2 And,according to the manifesto I have quoted, theCatholics in England have not only "placed theirloyalty and civil duty at the mercy of another," butthey have voluntarily and emphatically of themselvescast them away, and voluntarily and emphaticallyproclaimed that they are wholly and always at thebeck and call of that other, are even obeying himand him alone now, for by them "the Pope'scommand will be, or rather has been, and is being,carried into effect, whilst the parliamentary law willbe spit upon, and trampled under foot."

I think I am justified in calling the Roman

I Protestant Alliance Ojjicial Organ, September 1901.2 Vatican Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, Third Proposition,

p.2l.


Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland-importedand native, clerical and lay, priests and monks, nunsand sisters, peers and peasants, the Pope's Armyof Invasion, an Army already in the Field, workingzealously and continuously for the Conquest ofEngland. WAKE UP, JOHN BULL!

IX

The Plan of Campaign

"The loveliest and most fertile provinces ofBurope have, under her rule, been sunk inpoverty, in political servitude, and ininteJJectualtorpor."

-MACAULAY. History of England, vol. i.

THE ultimate intention of the Roman CatholicChurch in England, as the frontispiece tells us,is to bind John Bull, and to send him to grind

in the prison-house. She wants to make Englanda vassal of the Pope. But before that can be done,and in order to render it possible, like Samson, JohnBull's locks must be shorn; England must beweakened, enervated, emasculated.

John Bull is not like other men. What Samsonwas among the people-a giant, a champion, adeliverer, England has always been amongst thenations. Rescued from the coils and fangs of Popeand priest at the Reformation, purged and cleansedby Holy Scripture from the falsehoods and im-postures of Roman Catholicism, England was, in thesixteenth century, born anew, and endowed withthose principles of love of truth, of sincerity, of

160

THE PLAN OF OAMPAIGN 141

purity, of justice, of righteousness, of liberty, and ofthe love and fear of God, which are the peculiar fruitsof Protestantism. By virtue of these, her sons anddaughters, her homes, her churches, her schools, herinstitutions are marked by an excellence altogethertheir own; and she has become the greatestcolonizing and civilizing, and (through her devotedmissionaries and Bible Societies) the greatestOhristianizing power the world has ever known.The Roman Catholic Church knows that so longas Great Britain is true to the Gospel, so long as hersons and daughters are true to their Protestantprinciples, she is unconquerable; no military power,and no combination of military powers, couldvanquish her. No weapon formed against her couldprosper.

"Come the three corners of the world in arms.And we shall shock them: naught shall make us rue,If England to herself do prove but true."

Realizing this, the Roman Oatholic Ohurch mustbegin her Oonquest by making England untrue toherself. As I have said, John Bull's locks must beshorn. England must be attacked through thosethings which have contributed to the robustnessand nobility of the character of her sons, and by theexercise of which the empire has been built up, andon which its stability and endurance rest. Englandmust be degenerated; English moral character, withits grand love of truth and sincerity, must be sappedand undermined.


This, then, is the special work in which the greatRoman Catholic Army in England is at presentengaged. It is essentially sapper and miner work;and so, whilst the Church, as we have seen, isnot only actively hostile to the State, but evenavowedly so, still this hostility must be veiled asmuch as possible. This preliminary "shearing ofJohn Bull's locks" must be carried on after as secretand deceptive a fashion as possible. John Bull'ssleep must not be broken.

When Diabolus and his legions of evil spiritsresolved to make war upon the town of Mansoul,John Bunyan tells us in his Holy Wa1', they helda council, at which, after prolonged discussion, it wasagreed not to approach the town as open enemies,disclosing their intention and design, but to come inthe guise of friends pretending to desire the good ofits people; as otherwise success would be impossible,or, as Legion said, " I know quickly what time of dayit will be with us." "Therefore," Legion continued," let us assault them in all pretended fairness, cover-ing our intentions with all manner of lies, flatteries,delusive words; feigning things that never will be,and promising that to them that they shall neverfind. This is the way to win Mansoul, and to makethem of themselves open their gates to us; yea, andto desire us, too, to come into them. And thereason why I think that this project will do is,because the people of Mansoul now are, everyone,simple and innocent, all honest and true; nor do

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 143they as yet know what it is to be assaulted withfraud, guile, and hypocrisy. They are strangers tolying and dissembling lips; wherefore we cannot, ifthus we be disguised, by them at all be discerned;our lies shall go for true sayings, and our dissimula-tions for upright dealings. What we promise themthey will in that believe us, especially if in all ourlies and feigned words we pretend great love tothem, and that our design is only their advantageand honour." "Now," John Bunyan says, "therewas not one bit of a reply against this: this wentas current down as doth the water down It steepdescent." The plan succeeded, and the gate,", ofMansoul were open to the enemy.'

In this parable John Bunyan might have heentalking of the Catholic Church and England at thepresent time. As I have already said, Dr. Arnoldof Rugby called that Church "Satan's cleveresttour d'adresse," so the analogy stands complete.A Satanic agency has been allowed to enter England,and is attacking" in all pretended fairness," appeal-ing to "toleration," "religious liberty," an English-man's love of "fair-play" and Christian charity, asif it itself practised these virtues; covering its"intention with all manner· of lies, flatteries, anddelusive words," a people who, by virtue of theirProtestantism, "are strangers to lying and dis-sembling lips," and who know not "what it is to beassaulted with fraud, guile, and hypocrisy."

1 The Holy W ai', by John Bunyan, chap. i.


The Roman Catholic Church has traded on certainweaknesses common to all men. It was said of theAthenians (Acts xvii. 21) that they "spent theirtime in nothing else, but either to tell or to hearsome new thing." That love of novelty has beenmade use of. Again there is a vein of superstitionin human nature which leads it to desire visibleobjects to be used as charms and spells to avertdanger or secure good, such as crosses, crucifixes,images of Christ or of the Virgin, or of saints, holywater, incense, relics, and cabalistic prayers. TheTractarian School encouraged this superstition in thename of religion; and the Roman Catholic Churchhas taken advantage of it, and made it the moreacceptable to fallen man by teaching that reverencefor these things makes him "religious," without thepainful necessity of any moral change in character orlife.

To this must be added a certain declensionfrom the Gospel, a natural love of variety in re-ligion, and a strange tendency and even readinessto give heed to what is marvellous and impossible.When Erasmus went with Dean Colet to Canterburyto see the tomb of the so-called Saint, Thomas Becket,they were shown a handkerchief said to have beenhis, and were invited to touch and kiss it, as a crowdof pilgrims were doing. Mr. Fronde tells us DeanColet could hardly keep his hands off the monks whoshowed it, whilst Erasmus quietly remarked that" ifthe thing was genuine it had but served the Arch-

THE PLAN OI<' CAMPAIGN 145bishop to wipe his nose with"; and smiling kindlyhe reflected that "mankind were fools, and in someform or other would remain fools." 1 Erasmus spokethe truth. Some people like to be cheated, deceived,and humbugged. If it were not so, there would befewer quacks in the world, especially fewer of thosequack doctors of the Roman Catholic Church, who,with their rites and relics, their Madonnas andSaints, benumb and poison, as with monkshood andnightshade, the souls of men. There has been amarvellous development, a disgraceful development,of clairvoyance and necromancy in England lately,fostered and traded upon by these priestlyCagliostros, "brass-faced, vociferous, and voracious,"as Carlyle called their prototype.

Doubtless a kindly sympathy, as well as all thosecauses already mentioned, has operated in causingEngland to open her gates to this great army ofCatholic invasion; but I believe the chief cause isthat which John Bunyan gives in explanation of theadmission into Mansoul of Diabolus and his hosts,that, like the men of that town, Englishmen are"strangers to lying and dissembling lips."

Protestantism has made truth dearer to Britonsthan life, and so we naturally credit with the posses-sion of that cardinal virtue those who come to us, inthe sacred name of religion. It was so in this case,and it has happened to us as it happened to Joshuaand the children of Israel, who received the Gibeon-

1 Slum Studies em Great Subject" by J. A. Froude, vol. i. p. 80.10


ites coming to them in the name of Jehovah, withtheir 'mouldy bread,' and 'old garments,' and' oldshoes and clouted,' and who only discovered when itwas too late, after they had settled in their midst, thatthey did but' work wilily,' and were liars.' In thesame way Protestantism has made liberty and tolera-tion dear to us as the breath of heaven, and hasmade us keenly sympathetic with all who suffer fromoppression, and thus not a few in England were ledto extend the right hand of friendship to those in-numerable monks and nuns-the very incarnation ofpolitical and moral tyranny-who came to our shorespretending to be refugees from intolerance andpersecution.

Our very Protestantism thus disposes us tobecome the victims of the duplicity of RomanCatholics, and lays us open to their assaults. Andthis accounts for the fact that not only has Englandopened its ports to the landing of this Army ofInvasion, and permitted it, as we have seen, to buildits fortifications and intrench itself in the best strategicpositions in the land; but it has also unbarred andunlocked before its advance the gates of its Housesof Legislature, of its schools of learning, of itshospitals and philanthropic institutions, of its castlesand palaces, and of the homes of the people, as ifdesirous that the enemy should come into closestcontact with the public and private life of thenation.

1Joshuu ix. 5.

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 147Let us now see how these Roman Catholics are

shearing John Bull's locks, how they are debilitat-ing and degenerating England, and underminingBritish character, so as to pave the way for a contem-plated Military Conquest, and the making of the landa fief of the Pope.

The frontispiece represents the monks and priestsclosing up John Bull's lips, sealing up his eyes,fettering his limbs, and stealing his gold. Beforeseeing how true this is in regard to individuals andfamilies, let us look at the general effect producedon England, as a whole, by the Roman CatholicChurch.

John Bull asleep is not conscious of any injurybeing inflicted upon him, or any indignity being doneto him; but the injury and the indignity are very realall the same. And so, whether England recognizesit or not, the very presence in its midst of this largebody of Roman Catholics. is productive of evil. Itis so in every country, and England is no exception.When we look abroad at the Continent of Europe atthe present time, we find it impossible to name asingle prosperous country, and say, "To the prosperityof that nation the Roman Catholic Church has con-tributed." On the contrary, that same survey showsus that in every nation in which the Catholic Churchhas a place and influence, she acts as a clog and a dragon that nation's upward progress. In some casesthe prosperity and the progress of the nation hasbeen achieved III spite of everything the Church


could do to hinder it. It was so in Italy. Italyonly began to live when, in 1859-60, VictorEmmanuel II. and Count Cavour in her Northernprovinces, and General Garibaldi in her Southern,broke the power of priest and monk; and Italy onlygained the full use of her faculties as a nation when,in 1870, the French bayonets and chassepots thatsustained the throne of the Pope were withdrawn,and his Temporal Sovereignty was overthrown-never again, we hope, notwithstanding all his efforts,to be restored. The progress Italy has made sincethen-a progress unparalleled in modern history-has been exactly in proportion to the fearlessnesswith which her Government and people have pouredcontempt on Pope and priest, and trampled underfoottheir monstrous pretensions.

Indeed, history bears witness to the fact thatcountries, and parts of countries, as is seen in theCantons of Switzerland and the Provinces of Ireland,are progressive or backward, exactly as the power ofProtestantism or Roman Catholicism obtains in theirmidst. It is not possible, then, for Great Britain tohave in its midst this .huge Catholic organization andnot be affected perniciously by it.

A member of Mr. Gladstone's last Governmentonce told me that the opening of a Roman Catholicchurch in Dublin depreciated all surrounding pro-perty, like the opening of a public-house. Imentioned this to a Dublin merchant, and heanswered: "It is the case. The properties round

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 149the Cathedral in Marlborough Street, and round thechurch in Gardiner's Street, in which I am in-terested, have gone down in value." I dare say thesame thing would be found to be the case withproperty in the neighbourhood of Roman Catholicchurches, schools, and other institutions, whereverthey exist. In cities and towns in England, Ican generally know these buildings by seeing themto be centres of beggary, dirt, and misery. I havesometimes had to go off the pavement, when passing aRoman Catholic school in London, to steer clear ofthe dirty children round its gates. Even from thatstandpoint alone, papal institutions are too oftenpublic nuisances.

Up till 1870, when the Italian Government tookpossession of it, Rome was one of the dirtiest, dark-est, poorest, and least healthy cities in Europe.Writing of it in 1850, de Cesare tells us that manysanitary regulations were passed, as, for example,"forbidding people to throw filth out of theirwindows" ; yet notwithstanding that, "after Naplesit was perhaps the dirtiest city in Italy." 1 It wasalso one of the darkest, for though gas was intro-duced in 1853 by an Englishman, James Shepherd, itwas but sparingly used in the streets, hardly at allin the shops, and the Papal Government absolutelyforbade its introduction into private houses. Atnine o'clock all public lights were extinguished,when the dogs took possession of the city as its

1 Boma e to Stato dd Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. p. 07.


scavengers, so that, like Constantinople, it mightbe called la citta dei cani (the city of dogs ).1Poverty and misery abounded: indeed de Cesaresays t:lat it was" the poorest of the great cities ofthe world," 2 for though there were many charities,more, probably, than in any other city, the priestsate up all the funds. They did then what theycontinued to do till the State took all the charitymoneys from them, in July 1890, by the passingof the Legge delle Opere Pie (Pious Works Bill)-allowed people to die of starvation, and thenpocketed the money to pay for masses for theirsouls. Sismondi said: "All Rome wore eitherthe tonsure, or livery, or rags"; and Lord Macaulaysaid: "It is hardly an exaggeration to say thatthe population seems to consist chiefly of foreigners,priests, and paupers." The Pope forbade vaccination,and other medical agencies for combating disease, andthe death-rate was not less than fifty per thousand.

Rome was also the most immoral city in Europe.Its state as described by Luther, when he wasquitting it, in 1511, held true of it down to thedays of Pope Pia Nona. "Let all who will live aholy life depart from Rome. Everything is per-mitted in Rome, except to be an honest man." 3

The orgies that went on inside the Vatican itself,down to the close of the eighteenth century, cannot

1Roma e lo Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. pp. 57, 64, 67.2 Idem, vol. i. p. 113.s ShoTt Studiu on Great Subjects, by J. A. Froude, vol. i. p. 93.

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 151

be described. It was the headquarters of every kindof vice and profligacy. And down to the overthrowof the Temporal Power, things were little better in thePope's special part of Rome, the Leonine city. DeCesare quotes a letter from Guglielmo Capitelli, inwhich he says that when in Rome he "seemed tobe in an immense necropolis, in a city separatedfrom the modern world." 1 A Scottieh peer latelytold me that Cardinal Newman, when in Rome (beforehis perversion, naturally), said, that its very soilseemed to be contaminated by the abominations ofthe past.

And what Roman Catholicism was in Rome,that it is still, only held in check by publicopinion and Italian law. In this connection Ihere quote from a recent article, already referred to,by Un Prete Socialista, Don Rodrigo Levoni, in theItalian newspaper La Giustizia (Justice). He says,as showing the depths of degradation and imbecilityinto which his Church has fallen, and the utter hope-lessness and assurdita (absurdity) of the attemptsof the Modernists to reform it, that

"Cardinal Respighi, Vicar of his Holiness, to ~e-stroy for ever the impiety of those modern hereticswho pretend to recall the Church to its originalsimplicity, has issued recently a decree by which,in the name of the Pope, the faithful are recalledto the efficacy of the worship of St. Expedite (SantoSpedito), the infallible advocate of lost causes, the

1 llama e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. p. 135..


first and principal intercessor with God III everyembarrassment in life."I must here explain that St. Expedite, who is de-scribed in this blasphemous language, and whoseworship is so recommended, never existed. As hasbeen fully authenticated, the word spedito (hasten,hurry) was found on a chest sent from the cata-combs in Rome, meaning to hasten its journey; butit was mistaken for .the name of a saint, whoserelics the box was thought to contain. Taking thesemouldering remains as an image of his Church, thepriest thus continues:

"These credulous young men, whose leaders areDon Murri, Fogazzaro, the Abbe Loisy, and the lateFather Tyrrell, hope by remaining in the Churchto work for a reformation. Reform what 1 a rottencorpse 1 Away with you! Better bury it before itsmiasma creates a pestilence." 1

That which the Papal Church is here, by thispriest, described to be in Italy, at the present time,so she is more or less everywhere. Wherever hercathedrals, churches, monkeries, colleges, and schoolsexist, the atmosphere around is tainted. Noxiousspiritual vapours are exhaled, pernicious seeds,bearing unwholesome fruits in character and life,are borne from them by every breeze that blows.There is not in Great Britain a ruined monas-tery or nunnery, abbey or chapel, that is Dota witness to the righteous judgment of God

1 La Gi'Ulltizia, August 1, 1909, Reggio-Emilia.

THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 153

on the idleness, tyranny, drunkenness, and evilliving of the men and women who once dwelt inthem. No wonder that Mr. Froude, after telling,from the old English records published by theMaster of the Rolls, the story of the life of infamythat was led through long centuries by the abbotsand monks of St. Albans, who were all a pack ofribaldos fures (ribald thieves), as the people thencalled them, should exclaim, in view of the possiblerestoration of the abbey: "Cursed be he that re-builcleth Jericho." 1 Yet, if not St. Albans, still manyanother "fallen shrine of the old imposture" 2 inEngland and in Scotland has been rebuilt, for thereproduction, sooner or later, within them of theinfamous life of the past, and built at the expenseof deluded rich people, who expect to lay up forthemselves a stock of merit by the outlay!

Unhappy John Bull! I am afraid his soporificslumber is in itself a proof that the pestilentialemanations of the "rotten corpse" of the Reggio-Emilia priest are already telling upon him.

Let us now see how individuals and families inGreat Britain are being deteriorated by this Armyof Invasion, and how thus the State itself is beingdeteriorated and degenerated; for, after all, the Stateis but an aggregate of individuals and families, andits degeneration is but the sum total of theirs.

1 Short Stndies on Great Subjects, by J. A. Fronde, vol. iii. p. 60.2 Idem, vol. iii. p. 129.

xPromoting Intellectual Deterioration

"We owe the great writers of the golden age ofour literature to that fervid awakening of thepublic mind which shook to dust the oldestand most oppressive form of the Christianreligion. "

-SHELLEY. Preface to PrometMw Unbound.

THE Roman Catholic Church is weakening anddeteriorating England, by exercising a per-nicious influence, from an intellectual stand-

point, on every individual with whom she comes intocontact.

That Church claims absolute sovereignty overthe human mind. She claims the right to controlevery department of human thought and knowledge.She prescribes the books that may be read, andthose that must be left unread. She dictates whatthings may alone form the subjects of one'sthoughts, the topics of one's investigation andmeditation.

The Church, in order to check intellectualgrowth and the spread of knowledge, was accustomedfrom the earliest times to publish lists of prohibitedbooks. After the lapse of some years these lists

15.

PROMOTING INTELLECTUAL DETERIORATION 155

were collected and put into the form of a book, andcalled the Index Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurga-torum. The first edition of this was published byPope Paul IV. in 1557; but having been founddefective, a fuller edition was compiled at theCouncil of Trent, and published by the authorityof the same Pope. in 1564. A copy of this last,bearing that date and published at Venice, I havelying before me. The books in it do not form along list, because the Republic of Venice expungedfrom it all those that issued from her own printing-press; yet I find in it books of history, geography,philosophy, and medicine; works on tIlC Gospelsand Epistles, and the Christian Sacraments; the Con-fessions and Catechisms of the Reformed Churches;the Confessions of Augustine, the works of Erasmus,Luther, Zwingli, Cranmer, and of others who, likethem, shone in their day "as lights in the world,holding forth the Word of Life." But what I butrarely find in this Index are the names of unworthyauthors, and of their evil works. It is well knownthat the lowest types of literature were sold freelyat the doors of churches, whilst the most immoralplays were enacted within the Vatican itself.

Pope Paul IV. and the members of the Councilof Trent began their work of compiling the Indexby condemning every good book, that is to say,every book that really tended to enlarge andstrengthen and ennoble the mind, every book thattaught the rights of individuals to think and judge


for themselves in all matters brought before them,and that taught the rights of States to frame theirlaws and policies independently of the Church, everybook in favour of human freedom; but bad books,immoral books, they almost let alone, thus byimplication authorizing them; and the Sacred Con-gregation of the Index has carried on its work onthese lines ever since. Even Uncle Tom's Cabinwas condemned!

Mr. Gladstone, when writing to Lord Aberdeen ofthe state of Naples under Bomba, says that there was"the wholesale prosecution of virtue when unitedwith intelligence." 1 That is exactly the combinationwhich tyrants everywhere, and especially the papaltyrants, dread. On the other hand, as the Indexshows, intelligence divorced from virtue, intelligenceallied with depravity (of which combination Satan,the founder of the Church, his "cleverest tourd'adresse," is the most illustrious example), is notabhorrent to it; on the contrary, it is very pleasing toit, otherwise the huge ecclesiastic fabric of lies andimposture standing on its feet of clay-the Donationof Constantine and the False Decretals-would longago have been levelled with the dust.

During the regime of the infallible (but fromthe standpoint of history very fallible) PopePius IX. and his unprincipled secretary, CardinalAntonelli (sprung from a family of donkey-drivers),there was but one daily newspaper published in

1 Lettm to Lord Aberdeen, July 11, 1851, by W. E. Gladstone.

LA SCUOLA DEI PRETI.(The School of tlte Priests.i

ECCO UN'OPER -\ZIONE Dl CUI NES!:UN PADRE S'ACCORGE!

(Here is an operation wkick no fa/ker perceives /)

L' SINO, 8 Nov. 'Q03') [B)' permisszon, tif Jlle

HON. G. PODRECCA


Rome, the Giornale di Roma; nor was this reallya daily paper, for as its publication was forbiddenon Saints' days, it often only appeared three orfour times in a week. But it might as well nothave appeared at all. It contained no news ofwhat was going on in Rome and Italy, nothing ofthe great interests then engaging the Liberal pressof Europe, nothing of a literary character. Itspages were filled up, as de Cesare, already quoted,tells us, with the names of ecclesiastics and laypeople resident in Rome, with those of travellersarriving and departing, with police regulations, withthe Papal Government notices, with the sentencesof condemnation by the French and Austrianmilitary tribun.als, with accounts of murders, andwith Church ceremonies and festivals, religiousand mundane.' Cardinal Antonelli, the implacableenemy of the press, said that "newspapers oughtto publish nothing but announcements of ChurchServices and news of insurrections in China." 2 Theprofligate Duke of Parma, Charles III., one of thePope's lieutenants, who spent his time between thechurches and the green-rooms of the theatres, broughthis riding-whip across the face of a man in thestreet from whose pocket he saw a newspaper pro-jecting; S and Francis v., Duke of Modena, said he"non voleva stampa di fogli" 4. (would have no

1 Renna e to Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. p. 311.2 Idem, vol. ii. p. 105.3 Ultalia degli Italiani, by Carlo Tiveroni, vol. i. p. 132.fIdem, p. 115.


printed sheets), and accordingly not a paper wasproduced in his Duchy.

The dread of knowledge and of intelligence dis-played by Pius IX. and Cardinal Antonelli, andthe efforts they put forth to check their spread andgrowth, are fully shared by their successors in theVatican to-day. Pius x. has shown this to theworld by the various Encyclicals he has issuedduring the past few years, especially by the one incondemnation of Modernism, sent forth in 1907.In September 1908, one of my Venetian friendswent with others to present him with a thronewhich had been subscribed for by his admirers inhis old diocese. The gift proved very acceptable.The Pope examined it, admired it, sat in it, laughedin it, and from it made a short informal address,talking extempore, as he usually does, and using thesoft Venetian dialect. The address gave greatpleasure to his hearers, as he spoke quietly andfeelingly of his old home in Venice, of St. Mark'sChurch, of the Campanile, of the pigeons, of thewide-spreading lagoons with their quiet islands, ofthe Lido, and of the breezy shore of the Adriaticwhere he used to walk, and in the blue sparklingwaters of which he used to bathe. He did not saythat he wished the Curia Romana to the dogs, andthe papal tiara at the bottom of the Tiber, but thatwas the impression he gave. Later on, that sameday, he gave a second address, before a largeassembly, on Modernism. My friend said that he


began quietly enough, but with every succeedingsentence his voice rose until it became a roar; and hedenounced in unmeasured terms modern thought,modern writing, books, newspapers, magazines, theprinting-press in general, and insisted on absoluteobedience to the Ohurch in such matters. Myfriend, who before was so much pleased with him,told me that now he began to blush, to beashamed of him, and to long for him to hold histongue. The next day a daily paper said "thePope misses many a golden opportunity of keepingsilence."

But the curtailment of knowledge and the stunt-ing of intellectual growth whieh the Church laboursto bring about, is exemplified still further, and in away still more damaging to the mind, by her practicalprohibition of the reading of the Bible, and of thediscuseion of theological and doctrinal subjects whichit concerns men most to understand and know. Isay by her practical prohibition of the reading ofthe Bible, for any permission is attended by suchrestrictions, that though given with one band it iswithdrawn with the other. The Oouncil of Trentsanctioned the reading of Scripture, but only after alicence in writing to do so has been obtained fromthe proper authority; and even the regular clergyrequire to have the consent of their Bishops, whilstbooksellers are forbidden to have Bibles in stockfor sale.

A modern illustration of the Church giving the


Scriptures with one hand and withdrawing themwith the other, is afforded by the history of TheHoly Gospels, translated and published by HenriLasserre (Paris, 1886). Lasserre acknowledges inhis preface the need of giving the Scriptures to hisfellow-countrymen in these words:

" Ask your neighbour, those who form your circleof friends, ask yourself, dear reader, and you will becompelled to admit, not without profound astonish-ment, that among a hundred persons who partake ofthe Sacraments there is often not one who has openedthe New Testament otherwise than by chance, and tolook here and there, or to meditate upon isolatedverses. The most part of the children of the Churchknow the Divine Scriptures merely by fragments,without logical or chronological order, reproduced inthe prayer-book at mass on festival days or Sundays."

To meet this need, he states that he had" labouredalmost constantly for nearly fifteen years" on hisbook. At last, in December 1886, it appeared, notonly with the "Imprimatur of the Archbishop ofParis," but with a letter from Pope Leo XIII., com-mending the work, wishing it all success, andsending the author "from the bottom of his hearthis apostolical benediction." Lasserre's Gospelsinstantly attained a most remarkable, an almostphenomenal, circulation. As in the time of Lutherand Erasmus, God's Word showed itself to be annnknown book amongst Roman Catholics, and itscontents-e-sc contrary to the Church's teachings-


astonished them. Nearly twelve months had elapsedafter its publication, and as many editions of it hadbeen issued, when, like "a bolt from the blue," theinfallible Pope suddenly turned his back on all hisformer utterances in favour of the work and itsauthor, and ordered its instant suppression and with-drawal. It was placed on the Index Expurgatorius.The interests of an anti-scriptural Church were atstake.

Another illustration of the same thing-of theChurch giving the Scriptures with one hand andwithdrawing them with the other-is furnished bythe publication of the Gospels and the Acts (~rtlu:Apostles by the Society of St. Jerome. With agreat flourish of trumpets the book was announced,many Protestants believing that the Church was atlast favourable to Bible circulation. In Italy, how-ever, nobody was deceived. "Can the Ethiopianchange his skin, or the leopard his spots?" I sup-pose those Protestants who praised the enterprisenever read the preface, which so depreciates, almostvilifies, the Gospels, that if not deterred from readingthem, anyone might well be prevented from settingany value upon them when read. It says, for example,that the most recent and most reliable researcheshave given a mortal blow to the false idea of the firstProtestant Reformers, that one can go back to thepure Gospel of Jesus, for the pure Gospel has neverexisted; that the Gospels, which presuppose andlean upon the Divine teaching of the Church, are

1I


only an episode in the uninterrupted history ofecclesiastical tradition; and that if the EvangelistsMatthew, Mark, Luke, and John were to raise theirheads out of their graves, they would be the first tomarvel at the function, and at the work the Protestantsattribute to. them. However, as-in spite of thepreface, and in spite of the notes, which an Italiansaid to me simply obscure and contradict the text-the book was to a certain extent circulating, andas it was not damaging the sales of the Gospels ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society and otherBible Societies, as it was hoped it would do, the infal-lible Pope Pius x., who had sanctioned and approvedthe St. Jerome Society and its publication, now, likehis infallible predecessor Leo XIII., reversed hisdecision and conduct, dissolved the Society, andhanded over its plant and books to the Jesuits,to share the fate of Lasserre's Gospels. On thismatter Don Levoni, who wrote the article in thenewspaper La Giustizia, already quoted, says:H The Pious Society of St. Jerome, instituted bythe most modern intellects of Catholicism, for thepurpose of diffusing the Gospel in the vulgar tongue,and of substituting for all the rubbish in circulationof a sordid devotion, and books of religion devoidof sense and of grammar, other books of religionand of piety, more serious and spiritual, was dis-solved a few months ago, as being a den of Modern-ists; and dissolved stealthily, without noise, withoutexciting scandal, because the boldness of its members

'PROMOTING INTELLECTUAL DETERIORATION 163

had arrived so far as even to plant their feet in theVatican." 1

That the Roman Church seems to tolerate theBible at all anywhere, is due to the fact that shehas to pay deference either to Protestantism or to anenlightened public opinion; for where these do notexist it does not hesitate to condemn and destroy it,and to persecute and even murder those who dis-seminate it. It is so in South America. In a bookon PM'U recently published, by Miss GeraldineGuinness, we are told that in every town and villagein Peru some zealous cura has collected the BibleSociety's Gospels and Testaments and burned themin the plaza. In Callao and Arequipa colporteurswere imprisoned: in Tiahuanuco one was stoned andleft for dead on the roadside; and in Bolivia anative worker was murdered." In December 1907Bibles and Testaments were collected by the priestsand burned at Santa Cruz, in the Madeira Islands;and at Laibach, in Austria, the same thing happeneda few years ago, and indeed it has often happened tomy knowledge in out-of-the-way Austrian villages.

A short time ago the Pope appointed a Com-mission to revise the Vulgate. In Italy peoplesmiled, and said that he was playing with Protestants.And so he was. Soon afterwards it came out thatit was not the Vulgate he was revising, but theimperfect copies of it; for all the time there was

1 La Giustizia, August 1, 1909.I Peru, by Geraldine Guinness, p. 359 (Morgan & Scott).


hanging over his head the decree of the Councilof Trent, forbidding all historical and critical investi-gation of the text fixed at that Council, under painof anathema; a decree which the late Dr. Westcottcalls "fatal," because by it "the field of Biblicalstudy is definitely closed against all free research" ;and for this further reason, that it "was ratified byfifty-three prelates, among whom there was not onescholar distinguished for historical learning, not onewho was fitted by special study to deal with asubject in which the truth could only be determinedby a careful examination of the records of antiquity." 1

Even although research, within a limited range, mayyet result from the labours of the Commission, it isan incontrovertible truth that "careful examinationof the records of antiquity" has only been conductedby Protestants, so that, as every honest mind in theworld knows, the Protestant Bible is the only correctone; and yet, what says Pope Pius x. in his Com-pendium of Christian Doctrine, published in Milan,1906: "The Church prohibits Protestant Biblesbecause, either they have been altered and containerrors, or, lacking her approbation, and explanationof obscure passages, they may damage faith." 2 Im-mediately preceding the passage I have given, occursin this book the following choice question andanswer:

1 Th~ Bible in the Church, by Westeott, pp. 257, 259.2 Ccrmpendio della Dottrina Cri8tiana, pt'eacritto da Papa Pia X.,

p.273.


Question: "What ought a Christian (the Popemeans a Catholic) to do if a Bible is offered him bya Protestant, or by some emissary of the Protes-tants ~"

Answer: "If a Christian is offered a Bible by aProtestant, or by some emissaries of the Protestants,he ought to reject it with horror (con orrore).because it is prohibited by the Church. And if hehas received it thoughtlessly, he ought quickly tothrow it in the fire, or consign it to his parish-priest."

In the course of a debate on Religious Teachingin the National Public Schools, which took pluce inthe Italian House of Deputies, in May 1908, theHonourable Antonio Fradeletto, one of the membersfor Venice, quoted this question and answer inregard to the Protestant Bible as a specimen of themonstrous character of the Pope's book, and as oneof many reasons for the total exclusion of allRoman Catholic religious teaching from the schools.The passage was received in the House with cries of'shame,' and with derisive laughter. 1wonder howmany Catholic members of the British House ofCommons, or in the House of Lords, would haveregarded the Pope's dictum in that way? I supposethey would have received it 80S an infallible commandof Christ's Vicegerent, instead of rejecting it as the UD-

Christian deliverance of a bigoted old man. Indeed.in a debate on Religious Teaching in the Schools ofEngland, conducted almost at the same time in the


British House of' Commons, I see that Mr. JohnDillon and Mr. J. E. Redmond re-echoed the Pope sutterances. The former member said : "The simpleBible teaching in the schools is to us Catholics worsethan no religion" ; and the latter said: "We regardthis simple Bible teaching, under the Cowper-Templeclause, . . . as abhorrent to our religious convictions,and in great part hostile to our religion."

We hear a great deal about teaching the Irishlanguage in schools and in the new University,but as a booklet, entitled The Bible in Ireland,published by the Irish Church Mission, which Ihave lying before me, states: "The Church ofRome has never given the Irish people the Biblein their own language." Indeed, as this bookletshows, it has never given them the Bible inany language. To test the statement, which allof us, I dare say, have frequently heard made,that the Papal Church does not withhold the Biblefrom its people, the booklet says that "a diligentsearch was instituted in the bookshops in variousIrish towns," in December 1907, and January andFebruary 1908, which brought out" startling results,"which showed that the statement, like most othersmade by the Ohurch in its own interest, is simplyfalse. In the booksellers' shops of Athlone, Bal-briggan, Drogheda, Mullingar (seat of the Bishopof Meath), Wexford, and Clonmel, not a Bible, orNew Testament, or scrap of Scripture of theChurch's authorized version, could be found-a


shop assistant at Mullingar, saying: "I never sawa Catholic Bible." In Waterford, with its populationof some 27,000 people, only one shop had theDouay Bible; in Galway, two shops had it for sale,but at a. price beyond the reach of most people;whilst they did not keep the New Testament at all.Then in Cork, with over 76,000 inhabitants, thereare twenty-four Roman Catholic booksellers, ofwhom twenty did not keep the Scriptures, two ofthem asking the would-be purchaser if the DouayNew Testament, of which they knew nothing, was"a new monthly publication"? Lastly, in Dublinitself, out of four large Roman Catholic puhlishingand bookselling establishments, only one had theScriptures, whilst the answer given to an inquiry fora New Testament at the depot of The CatholicTruth Society was, "We don't keep it." The con-clusion arrived at by the commissioners whoransacked the booksellers' shops in Ireland forBibles, was "that in nine-tenths of the cities, towns,and villages of Ireland a Roman Catholic couldnot procure a copy of the Roman Catholic Bible orNew Testament." I have been told that the prieststell the people that "the Bible is a bad book," andthat "the distribution of it is the Devil's ownwork." It is another injustice to Ireland! Apriest, after confirming the statement made in hispresence that not one family in ten in Ireland hada Bible, said: "And what do they want the Biblefor 1 Sure, haven't they got the living voice of the


Church to teach them?" That they have got, andunfortunately they listen to it, with the result that, asa people, they are dragged downward, intellectually,as well as in other ways; for the voice of theChurch is not the voice of God, but that of theBeast of Revelation, to which the Dragon "gavepower," and "a mouth, speaking great things andblasphemies." And the two voices are so antagonistic,that he who listens to the one cannot listen to theother. I know of a priest at Padua, who was afraidto open a Bible, feeling that it would surely condemnhim. Mr. Froude tells us that, "Ignatius Loyolaonce looked into the New Testament of Erasmus,read a little, but could not go on. He said itchecked his devotional emotions." 1 I should thinkit did, and so it would do with all priests of his school.

The Church that thus vilifies the Bible, and dis-courages, where she cannot prohibit, the reading of it,forbids absolutely the exercise of the mind on thegreat questions regarding human life and humandestiny which its pages bring before us. She haspronounced dogmatically on these things, and herdogmas must be unhesitatingly and unquestionablyaccepted. And yet it is precisely these great theo-logical questions that form the noblest themes onwhich man can use his reason.

Bishop Westcott has said: "No superstition canbe more deadening than that by which a man ismade to leave his noblest faculties unconsecrated by

I Life of Erasmus, by J. A. Froude, P: 130.


devout and unceasing exercise. The Bible does notsupersede labour, but by its very form proclaimslabour to be fruitful. . . . The Bible does not dis-pense with thought, but by its last message it liftsthought to sublimer regions. There is no doubt arestless desire in man for some help which may Savehim from the painful necessity of reflection, com-parison, judgment. But the Bible offers no suchhelp. It offers no wisdom to the careless, and nosecurity to the indolent. It awakes, nerves,invigorates; but it makes no promise of ease. Andby this it responds to the aspirations of our betterselves." 1

The un-Biblical, restless desire in man for somehelp which may save him from thought and reflec-tion, of which Bishop Westcott speaks, is e:xactlythat to which the Papal Church ministers. In thisshe once more shows herself to be an unscripturalChurch; to be in this, as in a thousand other things.in direct conflict with God's will concerning us, asrevealed in the Bible.

And in this very particular, Protestantism showsitself to be Biblical and Christian: for whilst Ro:rnanCatholicism calls upon us to prove nothing, but toaccept everything on the authority of the Church,Protestantism calls upon us to .. prove all things;hold fast that which is good." 2 A Canon of St.Peter's once said to me: "Your faith calls upon yon

I Lel8rms!rom Work, by Wt'<ltcott, p. 14H.2 1 ThellS. v. 21.


to investigate everything.before my mind, hinderinganything."

Baron Ricasoli of Florence, whose daring states-manship secured, in 1860, the union of Tuscany withthe Kingdom of Italy, under Victor Emmanuel II.,

speaking of the suppression of all freedom of thoughtand of the press under the clerical occupation ofAustria, said: " Che bel comodo per certi se potesserotogliere agli nomini la facolta di pensare, e il mezzodi parlare" (What a splendid convenience itwould be for some people if they could deprive menof the power of thought and of the means of speech).'That is exactly what the Roman Catholic Churchstri yes to do. She labours to check thought, todwarf and enfeeble the faculties of the mind, tocurtail and circumscribe the province of thoughtboth in matters secular and sacred, to abridge allhuman knowledge. She insists on man abdicatingthe use of his loftiest faculties, on his divestinghimself of his noblest powers, foregoing theuse of reason and intelligence, and making anabsolute and unreserved surrender of all hismental endowments to her guidance. And thereason for this is because knowledge, intelligence,and intellectual growth are incompatible with herdespotic sway.

Baron Ricasoli once asked, with reference to thisdread of thought on the part of the Roman Catholic

1 La Vita Poliiica di Contemporanei lllmtri, by Gaspare Finale, p. 7.

My faith is as a wallme from investigating

PROMOTINGINTELLECTUALDETERIORATION171

Church: '<Perclie temere il pensiero che vien daDio, e transporta a Lui f" (Why fear thought,that comes from God, and transports to Him ?).l Theanswer is, Because the Roman Catholic Churchneither proceeds from God, nor leads to Him. It isbecause that Church is a false teacher and a falseshepherd, the creation of the Evil One, and which"cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and todestroy."

Italy points us to her past history, and callsupon us to note that, as the Roman Catholic Churchonce dealt with her, so she is now dealing withEngland. She is deteriorating and degeneratingthe individual intellectually, paralyzing the will andweakening the mind, and hence she is deterioratingand degenerating the State; she is fastening anotherand yet another cord round John Bull, that she maysend him ultimately to grind in the prison-houseas a vassal of the Pope. WAKE UP, JOHN BULL!

1 La Vita Politica di ContempQTaneiIllustri, by Gaspare Finale, p. 31.

XI

Promoting Moral Deterioration

.. The Catholic faith does not furnish standing-ground on which either a man or a nationcan live a manly and a godly Ilfe."

THE Roman Catholic Church that is thus fetter-ing and hampering John Bull, by per-niciously affecting the individual intellec-

tually, does so still more by perniciously affectinghim morally; for she deliberately and of set purposeconfuses, weakens, corrupts, and ultimately destroysaltogether man's noblest faculty, the moral sense.To use John Bunyan's expressive language, "Mr.Conscience" is first debauched within the "Townof Mansoul," so that he praises what he once con-demned, and condemns what he once praised; andthen he is "put out of place and power," and thePope and the priest are installed instead. Hence-forth the man's life is not to be regulated by theeternal laws of right and wrong, or by the naturallaws inscribed in his heart, far less by the spiritof the Gospel. These are entirely set aside. Theman's life must henceforth be regulated by thearbitrary laws of the Church, and by the word of

172

PROMOTING MORAL DETERIORATION 173

his ghostly Confessor. And the arbitrary laws ofthe Church, and the word of his ghostly Confessor,may have nothing to do with the eternal laws ofright and wrong, may have nothing to do with theTen Commandments, may have nothing to do with theNew Testament or with the spirit of the Gospel.

The spheres of right and wrong recognizedby the Church are not conformable to any moralstandard recognized by man, either natural orrevealed. Things, for example, which have nomoral quality whatever, are pronounced to be ofsupreme importance. On their performance, or non-performance, as the case may be, is made to hang It

man's eternal destiny, whilst matters of everlastingmoment are treated as trifles. People are calledupon to "pay tithe of mint, anise, and cummin,"and are taught to omit "the weightier matters ofthe law." Let me illustrate this. A judge of theSupreme Court of Justice in Venice, still a nominalRoman Catholic, told me that when he was a youngman he was very" religious." He was taught by hisConfessor that it was a heinous sin to swallow hisspittle when about to receive the communion wafer.Once he did so. He thought to rise and go out ofthe church, but he hesitated, and the priest came tohim and he communicated. He was aghast. Onreturning home he could not eat, he could notstudy. For two months he lived in mentaltorture, not daring to confess so dreadful a sin.At last, unable to bear it any longer, he went


back to the priest and confessed what he had done.The priest, instead of pooh-poohing the so-called sin,magnified its heinousness, until my friend thoughthe was doomed to perdition. He was like thestudent in the sixteenth century story, who was inanguish of mind because he had touched his hat bymistake to a Jew. At last, after performing variousreligious exercises, and paying for a number ofmasses in expiation, he obtained absolution. Otherthings of a similar ridiculous nature happened tohim, all of which, however, brought him intotrouble. But he was growing in years and inknowledge of the principles of true morality, asembodied in the righteous law of his country. Andone day his eyes were opened. He saw, he told me,that the whole so-called moral teaching of theChurch was outside the region of equity, duty,and piety altogether. He saw that it was only acunning and cruel contrivance designed to entanglethe conscience, warp the moral sense, weaken thewill, and keep a man in a state of spiritual ill-health,so that he would ever require his quack priestlyphysician, who would thus be enabled to dominatehim, soul and body, for his own selfish ends. Hewas given strength to liberate himself" from thesnare of the fowler," and to regulate his life hence-forth by the Divine law, and by that of the landwhich he is to-day called on to administer.

Mr. Ruskin, of whom in his old age the CatholicChurch moved heaven and earth to get hold, ex-


hausting in its efforts all the tricks and wiles laiddown in Chapter II. of the Secreta Monita SocietatisJesu, tells us in his Stones of Venice, that Catholicvirtues are" squared and counted and classified, andput into separate heaps of firsts and seconds; somethings being virtuous cardinally, and other thingsvirtuous only north-north-west." 1 And as it is withvirtues, so it is with sins. They are divided intothree classes-original, mortal, and venial. ThePope's Compendium of Christian Doctrine." alreadyreferred to, tells us that whilst we are all born withoriginal sin, Roman Catholics get quit of it atbaptism, whilst Mary never had it at all. Mortalsins are dreadful things, for they cancel all themerits that may stand to one's credit on high, andprevent a poor sinner opening a fresh credit account IA venial sin does not matter much: it displeasesGod only a little, and as He easily pardons it, it isnot worth troubling about. What is a venial sin?is a question I saw in an English Catholic catechism,and the answer was, practically, swearing, lying,stealing, in fact" breaking the feck 0' a' the tencommands." And what is a mortal sin? Eatingmeat on Friday, disobeying the priest, not attend-ing mass, and, as was quoted as an example in theItalian House of Deputies, "in some cases obeyingthe law of the land "-the speaker might have added,

1 Stones of Venice, by Ruskin, vol. ii. chap. viii. p. 45.J Compendio della Dottrina Cristiana, prUC1'uto da Papa Pio x.,

chap. iii. p. 47.

176 THE PAPAL CONQUEflT

"and in many cases obeying the law of God." Thatis why lying is part and parcel of the RomanCatholic Church. It would be difficult to discoveron the page of history one single instance of aRoman Catholic in a position of responsibility, be heEmperor, Pope, prince, priest, statesman, or soldier,keeping faith with heretics, when the interests ofhis Church were concerned; whereas examples ofbreach of plighted word, and of oath given in themost solemn manner, abound in the history ofalmost every land.

Pope Clement VII. deliberately broke his wordto Benvenuto Cellini. That representative saint,Thomas Becket, when called on by King Henry II.

to swear to observe the" Constitutions," deliberatelysaid to his clergy before doing so: "It is the Lord'swill that I perjure myself. I submit and perjuremyself now, and I shall do penance for it after-wards." He then perjured himself, and wrote to thePope to absolve him, which, as a matter of course,the Pope gladly did, for "value received." InNovember, 1414, John Huss, the Bohemian Re-former, left his place of security in Bohemia, andset out for Constance to attend a General Councilof the Church, under a safe-conduct from theEmperor Sigismund, when he was almost at onceapprehended and cast into prison, and on July 6,1415, he was burned at the stake, and his ashesthrown into the Rhine. In the same way Luther,in April 1521, went to Worms, under a safe-conduct


from Charles V., but Pope Leo x. (who, as the lateLord Actou shows, was a liar, absolving himselffrom all pledges he took at his coronation), wroteto the Emperor to break his word, and a plot wasformed by the Church to murder Luther on his returnjourney, which, however, was frustrated by Frederick,the Elector of Saxony. Philip II. of Spain, afterhaving signed the death-warrant of William ofOrange, professed great affection for him, and re-proached him for want of confidence in his friend-ship.' James I. broke his pledged word of honourto support Raleigh, when in 1615 he sailed forGuiana, and thus brought about the ruin of hisenterprise, and his subsequent execution, andprobably lost to the British Crown the whole ofSouth America. In 1861, Baron Ricasoli, theItalian Premier, openly accused the French Govern-ment, then upholders of the Pope's temporal power,of having broken their word of honour by furnishingthe Papal troops with arms a danno dell'interanazione, con offesa della umanita 2 (to the damageof the entire nation, and to the offence of humanity).In 1862, when the Roman question was agitating allItaly, and the Pope was trembling for his seat inRome, he applied to the English Government for anasylum in Malta. The English Government not onlygranted his request, but promised to secure himthe possession of every liberty there. Mr. Odo

1 The Rise of the Dutch Republic, by Motley, p. 226.2 La Vita Politica di Cont4mp01'aneiIlluttri, by Gaspare Finali, p. 136.

12


Russell, a. nephew of Lord Russell, then ForeignSecretary under Lord Palmerston, carried to Romea dispatch to that effect, which he handed toCardinal Antonelli on the condition that it shouldbe kept secret. Cardinal Antonelli not only accededto this condition, but solemnly promised to show itto no one but the Pope. No sooner had ado Russellleft him, than Antonelli broke his pledge, giving itto the Austrian Ambassador, in whose hands adoRussell saw it that same day, the whole being simplya ruse on the part of Pius IX. and his ministerto force Austria and, through Austria, France, toincrease their armaments for the maintenance of theTemporal Power. But that is Roman Catholicism.As we have seen, the Papal creed is a lie, and hencelike the founder of his Church, who" is a liar and thefather of it," a Roman Catholic, "when he speaketha lie, he speaketh of his own." 1

John Morley, in his Life of Mr. Gladstone, tellsus that "Mr. Gladstone asked Manning an answerto a question that sorely perplexed him. 'Whatwas the common bond of union that led men ofintellect so different, of characters so opposite, ofsuch various circumstances, to come to the sameconclusion?' (to go over to Roman Catholicism).Manning's answer was slow and deliberate: 'Theircommon bond is their want of truth.' I was surprisedbeyond measure, Mr. Gladstone usually said whentelling the story, 'and startled at his judgment.''' 2

1 John viii. 44. S Lif, of Glad~tone, by Morley, p. 317.


Mr. Gladstone's lifelong Roman Catholic friend,the late Lord Acton, once wrote to him: "Ultra-montanism inculcates distinct mendacity and deceit-fulness. In certain cases it is a duty to lie." 1 Therewas something appropriate in the selection to be thehead of the Roman Catholic Church of GiovanniMastai, who became Pope Pius IX., for, as Commends-tore Peruzzi, who was one of his schoolfellows atVolterra, told Adolphus Trollope: "He was thegreatest liar in the school." 2

The use by the late Lord Acton of the word"duty," reminds me that that word, as in usc in theRoman Catholic Church, has nothing to do withwhat moralists and Protestants mean by it. It hasnothing to do with "oughtness," with moral obliga-tion. "Duty," as used in the Church, means simply"religious duty," which is the performance ofcertain outward, external rites and ceremonies,which are entirely divorced from what we owe toGod, to others, or to ourselves, as moral agents;which have nothing to do with the Apostolic in-junction that we should live "soberly" towardsourselves, "righteously" towards our neighbours,and "godly" towards the Deity in this presentworld. It is a substitute for all these things.

Frederick W. Robertson of Brighton, writing fromBrunecken about the Tyrolese, says: "Religious theycertainly are, if crosses and virgins almost at every

1 TM Time" December 12, 1874.2 Life of Piu, IX., by T. A. Trollope, vol. i. p. 8.


quarter of a mile be a proof of religion. But I aminclined to believe that all this is looked upon bythem in the light of a spell, and has much lessinfluence on their moral conduct than is usuallysupposed. Moreover, in every inn there is holywater in your bedroom, and in the dining-roomgenerally a figure of the Saviour; and at Mitten-wald, under the figure were some most touchingsentences on life and death. But I never observedthat this had any effect on solemnizing the partieswho sit beneath it. They are satisfied with beingunder protection, and drink, play at cards, smoke,in a way that to us seems incompatible with religiousfeeling! And this, I believe, is the very essence ofsuperstition - to feel great reverence for certainobjects, visible or invisible, on account of somemysterious influence with which they are supposedto be endowed, but an influence which all the whilehas not necessarily any moral effect, or any con-nection with character." 1 "They," referring toCardinal Newman and his followers, "want to showthat superstition in itself is good. I say, supersti-tion has no religious element in it at all. It is allcowardice. And a man who walks into a churchwith his hat on his head, breaks images remorselesslyto pieces, tosses consecrated bread out of the windowor treads it underfoot, and yet prostrates his heartto goodness and nobleness, living, honouring, and

1 Life and Leiters of F. W. Robertson, by Stopford A. Brooke, vol. i.p.119.


cultivating all that, is the man in whom awe andreverence have their right places, though foolishpeople would call him irreverent." 1

Yet reverence for, and trust in, such "objects ofpiety" as Mr. Robertson mentions, and the per-formance of outward rites and ceremonies, constitutethe only religion that the bulk of Roman Catholicsever know. "I perform all my religious dutiesevery morning, and then I am free to amuse myselfand occupy myself as I like," said a French Countessto my wife. The judge of whom I have spoken was"very religious," when he scrupulously performedsuch ceremonial rites, and had crucifixes and imagesof Madonnas, and holy-water vessels in his rooms.Those who spend their lives in that way are religious."The washing of pots and cups," the holding" thetradition of men," the observance of "days andmonths, and times and years," the use of "vainrepetitions "-stock-charm prayers, take the place ofthe moral law. If one attends to these things, heneed not trouble about "the weightier matters ofthe law, judgment, mercy, and faith."

But the performance of these external rites andceremonies, as well as abstinence from the so-calledvenial and mortal sins of the Catechism, may be-come troublesome; and so the Church goes a stepfarther in accommodating herself to fallen humannature. A dispensation to omit the former, and,

1 Life and Letters of F. W. Rober/sm, by Stopford A. Brooke, vol. i.p.124.


if not a licence to commit the latter, at least a" plenary indulgence," which" remits all the penaltythat the sinner owes to Divine justice," can easilybe obtained for" value received."

We have already seen how the Church sells formoney dispensations to omit all kinds of dutiesdue to God and man; but one of the most curiousdispensations I have ever heard of was given forlove. Massimo d'Azeglio tells us that Pope Pius IX.

gave to their mutual friend, the beautiful, but ex-travagant, Roman Princess --, a dispensation notto pay her debts! And he tells us, too, of herindignation because an erewhile friend, to whomshe owed many thousands of scudi, looked at her, inthe Corso, in a way that seemed to say: "Alas, mypoor money!" 1

When a man has committed a venial or a mortalsin, and confesses it, then the priest imposes on him apenance, which is "a kind of satisfaction to the justiceof God for the sins committed." This penancemay consist of anything, from saying so manyAve Marias or going so many days without fruit,to having half a dozen or a score of masses said onhis behalf, at a shilling apiece in Italy or five shillingsin England; so that, as we have already seen,everything resolves itself ultimately into a moneypayment. Luther tells us that Tetzel boasted, alhe drove about in his gilded carriage, that theindulgences he sold "did not only give pardon

1 I Miei Ricordi, by Massimo d'Azeglio, p. 284.


for sins past, but also for sins to come"; and that"no matter how dreadful the sin might be, for 6

proper sum of money he could pardon him." It ispractically the same still. The very intention ofa human priesthood is to enable men to sin, and yetescape the clutches of the devil at last; or if that isnot its intention, that is what people understand itsuse to be. Hence it comes to pass that a humanpriesthood is always productive of a low tone ofmorality. Therefore it comes to pass that thecarnal and mercenary system of Roman Catholicismdebases man, and forces him to live at a lower morallevel than he otherwise would do. What Robertsonof Brighton said of Tractarianism, is more applicablestill to this system of which Tractarianism is only acounterfeit: it "will not produce animals as nobleeven as the dog." 1

The moral, or rather the immoral, condition ofevery Roman Catholic country in the world, fromIreland at our own door, to the remotest region ofthe earth, illustrates this fact. I do not intend,therefore, to dwell upon it; but, as showing how,in countries where there is no Protestantism along-side of her to keep her in check, where there is nowholesome public opinion to restrain her, she willreveal herself in her true character as the Churchof Satan, and her priests will reveal themselves ashis agents, I give one or two extracts from Miss

1 Life and Letter. of F. W. ROberlI01l, by Stopford A. Brooke, ~ol. i,p.272.


Geraldine Guinness's recent book, Peru, from whichI have already quoted. She says: "The Indianhas been kept ignorant, made superstitious, andforced into vice by the Roman Catholic system ofPeru. The forced service of the women to thepriest is known as the mitta; and to-day, as in thetimes of Spanish rule, the old Indian word conveysunmentionable abuses in numerous instances." 1 Onthe evil character of the priests she quotes a dis-tinguished Peruvian as having said: "The curasare not worthy of the high authority with whichthey are clothed (they are tyrants in their respectivedistricts). Many of them are unscrupulous specu-lators, no better than the most degraded traders,and they live licentiously to an incredible extent.In a word, the curas of the Amazon, instead ofenlightening the people, and elevating the Indians,and being examples of virtue and charity, are themost active propagandists of vice and immorality.Twelve years of commerce, corrupt as it is, hasdone more to prosper this region than three longcenturies of missions." 2 The authoress also quotesMr. Stark of the British and Foreign Bible Societyas saying, on the authority of travellers: "Not un-frequently the curas are more degraded than theCaucheros. There may be honourable exceptions,but they are not numerous. In some cases a padremakes an occasional visit to a settlement, whenreligious ceremonies, with drinking and dancing, are

1 Peru, by Geraldine Guinness, p. 202. I Idem, p. 235.


kept up for several days." Writing of the in-habitants of the Montana, the great Rubber districtof Peru, a second Congo, she says: "Such are thechildren of the Montana - ignorant, simple, andbrave. But they are steadily sinking lower, learn-ing new vices, becoming still more degraded, andsurely dying out. And the reason for this degrada-tion ? Alas, it is not the baleful influence ofpaganism, but of so-called Christianity." 1 E. G.Squier is an American traveller and naturalist whohas written a book on The Ruins of Peru. MissGuinness, after an examination of these ruins ofthe once mighty empire of the Incas, as they stillexist after a thousand years on the shore of LukeTiticaca, on its Isla del Sol, and at Cuzco, the oldcapital of "the Children of the Sun," and after astudy of the religion of that ancient people, withwhich many of these ruins are identified, says:" With a last wondering look at the monuments ofthis forgotten religion, we say with Squier: 'Underthe Incas there was a better government, betterprotection for life, and better facilities for thepursuit of happiness, than have existed since theSpanish conquest, or do exist to-day. The materialprosperity of the country was far in advance ofwhat it now is. There were greater facilities inintercourse, a wider agriculture, less pauperism andvice, and-shall I say it 1-80 purer and more usefulreligion.' " 2

1 Peru, by Geraldine Guinness, p. 234. 2 Ide,", p. :35.


In Italy, before the overthrow of the Pope's Tem-poral Power, the Church showed herself in the sameawful character. Professor Orsi, in his book onModern Italy, says: "If the clergy were powerfulin the other Italian provinces, in the Papal dominionsthey were omnipotent; for the State itself came tobe looked upon as an ecclesiastical benefice to befreely exploited, without the least regard for thewelfare of the people or the progress of civilization.It can be easily understood how, under such agovernment, the inhabitants became, not onlyinert and poor, but demoralized and vicious aswell." 1

Roman Catholicism is thus in essence really anengine of material, mental, and moral degradation;and she would manifest herself as such, always andeverywhere, as she has done in Peru and Italy, but forthe check put upon her by law, public opinion, andProtestant Christianity. Dr. Arnold, speaking ofthe real Church of Christ, used to say that its endwas" the putting down of moral evil." 2 A Church,then, that sanctions and creates moral evil, can benothing else than that of Christ's Adversary.

Mr. Froude, reviewing the period since Reform-ation times, asks the question in his criticism ofCardinal Newman's Grammar of Assent: "What onedistinguished man of letters, in the last three cen-turies, has owed anything to the patronage of

1 Modern Italy, by Pietro Orsi, p. 23.J Life of Dr. AT1IOld, by Stanley, vol. i,p. 195.

PRO""WTING MORAL DETERIORATION 1 87

Rome '? "1 Very significant it is too, that whilstCardinal Newman and Cardinal Manning were menof superlative intellect, yet both were so degradedmentally and morally by their becoming RomanCatholics, that Mr. Froude used of the one, and Mr.Gladstone of the other, the following contemptuouslanguage. Mr. Froude in his criticism of Newman'sbook, above referred to, says, his "powers" arerather those "of an intellectual conjurer than of ateacher who commands your confidence"; and hefurther speaks of his "mode of thought" as beingone "not characteristic of intelligent persons."That Mr. Froude judged Newman correctly, theRev. G. W. Hutton brings out in the issue of theChurchman of October 1908, where he proves thatthe Cardinal, like his class, is not entitled to thedisinterestedness with which he is usually credited; for"throughout his active life Newman was alwaysfighting for his own hand, or else was patiently wait-ing an advantageous opportunity for so doing."Nor is he entitled to be regarded as an honest andsincere seeker after truth; for the Apologia, which hasbeen supposed to exhibit him in that light, "waswritten in order to keep himself before the notice ofthe British public; and the apparently righteousindignation, which led to its publication, was con-fessed by Newman himself years afterwards, to bemainly affectation."

When Mr. Gladstone's Vatican Decrees came out,1 Short Studiu on GTeat Subjectl, J. A. Fronde, vol. ii, p. 140.


his old friend Cardinal Manning replied, passing theseverest strictures on the pamphlet and on its author.To these Mr. Gladstone replied in his second pamphlet,Vaticanism, where he said of some of Manning's state-ments, that they betokened "an unsound and unmanlyhabit of mind"; and in regard to one statement hesaid: "I frankly own that this is in my eyes irrational."As throwing light on the character of Cardinal Man-ning's mind, I recall what Mr. Gladstone once said ofhim to a friend of mine at Hawarden. The subject ofconversation turned on Manning's reason for leavingthe Church of England, when Mr. Gladstone said:"He left the Church of England to get liberty." Myfriend, a dignitary in the Church, exclaimed: "Why,Mr. Gladstone, you surprise me. I should havethought that the Church of Rome was the last placeto go to in search of liberty." Mr. Gladstone replied:" But you do not understand me. Manning's mindwas essentially of an intriguing, scheming, burrow-ing, serpentine character; and he felt hampered,having no field for its exercise in the Church ofEngland, so he went to Rome, where he could indulgeits bent to his heart's content."

There is a great truth expressed in the lines ofShakespeare-

"This above all: to thine own self be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man."

And it is one of the sad features of RomanCatholicism, that, teaching insincerity, it makes


men false, first to themselves, and then to every-one else.

Mr. Ruskin, referring to Reformation times,says: "So long as, corrupt though it (the RomanCatholic Church) might be, no clear witness had beenborne against it, so that it still included in itsranks a vast number of faithful Christians, so longits arts were noble. But the witness was borne-the error made apparent; and Rome, refusing to hearthe testimony or forsake the falsehood, has beenstruck from that instant with an intellectual palsy."l

Luther was not the first Protestant. He wasraised up to bear what Mr. Ruskin calls the" clearwitness," to be the captain to lead men out of dark-ness into light; but, centuries before the greatseparation between Catholicism and Christianitytook place, and" a great gulf" opened between them,centuries before

"God took the good, too good to stay,And left the bad, too bad to take away,"

the Church "included in its ranks a vast numberof faithful Christians." Dante, Arnold of Brescia,Francis of Assisi, Savonarola, Giordano Bruno, FraPaolo Sarpi, were all of that number, and they all gottheir reward. Sarpi was stabbed; Bruno, Savonarola,and Arnold were burned; the others were persecuted.I suppose Pius IX. would have burned Dante had helived in his day, for he said: "La diabolica Commedia

1 Stones of Venice, by John Ruskin, vol. i. chap. i, § xlix.


dovrebb' essere condannata e bruciata" (the diabolicalComedy ought to be condemned and burned).

England has always been distinguished for sound-ness and vigour of intellect, and for a high standard ofmorality; and it is these characteristics which haveto a large extent made her what she is. Mr. Ellis,in his book on Genius, tabulates the nations accord-ing to the number of great men they have producedin proportion to their population. It is significantthat on that table Great Britain stand-s first andIreland last. Clearly it is not here a question ofrace versus race, but a question of Catholicism versusProtestantism. As I have endeavoured to show, theformer debases a man intellectually and morally,just as the latter raises him. As Mr. Gladstonehas said in Vaticanism: "Even in those parts ofChristendom where the Decrees and the presentattitude of the Papal See do not produce oraggravate open broils with the civil power by under-mining moral liberty, they impair moral responsi-bility ; and silently, in the succession of generations,if not even in the lifetime of individuals, tend toemasculate the vigour of the mind." 1 BishopWestcott expresses the same thought, where he says,in his Lessons from Work: "Life would be easierindeed if we might once for all surrender ourselvesto some power without us. It would be easier if wemight divest ourselves of the Divine prerogative ofreason. . . . It would be easier; but would that be

1 Vatwniam, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 17.


the life which Christ came down from heaven toshow us and place within our reach? No, myfriends, everything which makes life easier, makesit poorer, less noble, less human, less Godlike." 1

But now I go a step farther, and say that, notonly does the Roman Catholic Church" emasculatethe vigour of the mind," and render life" poorer,less noble, less human, less Godlike," by makingit " easier" by "impairing moral responsibility," butshe makes it positively ignoble, inhuman, and impious,by inciting to a life of worldliness and of gaiety anddissipation. She caters to the works of the flesh.She trades upon self-indulgence. Thus, before theoverthrow of the Pope's temporal power in 1870,the Church, throughout all his dominions, ran thetheatres, sporting clubs, and, I may also say,gambling-dens, just as Monte Carlo is run by theJesuits to-day.

And the plays enacted on the stages of thosetheatres were often of the lowest type. They wereadapted and designed to excite, through the eye andthrough the ear, the basest human passions. And,as I have already noted, nowhere were worse playsenacted than within the walls of the Vatican itself. Ihave been told that exhibitions took place in thepresence of the Pope and Cardinals, and Monsignorsand Roman ladies, which were nothing less than theapotheosis of vice. Worse still, the burden of theup-keep of all the theatres and of other low places of

1 Leuomfrom Work, by B. F. Westcott, pp. 150-51.


amusement fell on the people. They were taxed fortheir maintenance. And so, when the liberal-mindedCount Pasolini was Governor for the Pope at Ravennain 1857, he said that he had" always regretted thatin our communes the peasant should pay taxes forcity theatres and amusements." 1 In Rome, peoplewere liable to imprisonment if they did not attendthe theatre, as they were supposed to belong to theclass called" thinkers," who might be thinking ofconstitutional liberty and human rights; and thatlife had a serious side, and so they were considered"dangerous persons" by the Church.

Michael M'Carthy tells us that whilst in theProtestant parts of Ireland, people are devoted to theduties of life, in the Roman Catholic parts they aredevoted to a large extent to" the enjoyments of life,"there being in these provinces more racing andsteeple-chasing, and hunting and coursing, than inany other country that he ever heard of." And soin England at the present time people are givingthemselves up to social gaieties, and, I am afraid, tosocial excesses, to theatrical and music-hall enter-tainments, and to sport, in a way they never didbefore, which state of things is encouraged whennot actually organized by the Roman Catholic Church.That Church is labouring to assimilate England tothe Roman Catholic parts of Ireland. This is notaffected by the fact that individual priests may

1 Gimeppe Pasolini Memor!« Racolte, da Suo Figlio, p. 224.2 Five Years ,in Ireland, by Michael M'Carthy, pp. 70, 71.


preach seriousness of life; which, however, confusesthe issue, just as when the two Roman CatholicArchbishops in Ireland, contradicting each other intheir public utterances, the one condemning whatthe other approves, dust is thrown in the eyes ofthe British Government and people.

The sport, too, of England, under the influenceof Roman Catholicism, is very much changed incharacter. It is no longer the old healthy Englishsport, in which the past generation delighted for itsown sake, and which was sound and wholesome andbracing alike to mind and body; but it is sport ofa low kind, which is mixed up with betting andgambling, and which is engaged in for the sake ofmaking money. It is a reproduction of such sportas prevailed in Italy when the Church was in powerthere. Italy, freed from priestly influence, is nowpurifying even its sport-" Englishing" it, as theItalians say. What a sad thing that England, underthe influence of the Papal Church, should be" Catholicizing" hers!

The Roman Catholic Church is thus actingperniciously on the mind and morals of everyindividual in England with whom she comes intocontact; and just in proportion as she makes headway,she is deteriorating and weakening the kingdom, andthat in some of those very virtues and excellenceswhich contribute to its strength and glory.

I cannot close this chapter without making areference to the pernicious influence of Roman

13


Catholic schools on the moral character of those whoattend them. I do not believe that any boy or girlcan attend such schools without suffering seriousmoral deterioration.

The withholding of the Bible from young people,spoken of in the preceding chapter, and the injunctionthat vetoes the exercise of their minds on the greatproblems of life, which the Bible and other books thatdraw their inspiration therefrom set before us, notonly bring about deterioration in the sphere ofintellect, but also deterioration, and that of a moreserious kind, in the sphere of morals. It is not, aswe have seen, the observance of outward rites andceremonies, and of " days and months and times andyears" 1 that benefits a man spiritually: it is God'sWord. As our Lord said to His disciples: "It is theSpirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:the words that I speak unto you, they are spiritand they are life." 2 And not only is God's Wordlacking-by which the soul is nourished, for" mandoth not live by bread only, but by every wordthat proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord dothman live "-but the children's moral and spiritualnatures are fed with chaff and dust, which starve anddeteriorate them.

This is effected through the religious text-booksused in Roman Catholic schools, which are of themost objectionable kind. They are full of trivialities,of ridiculous tales of medieeval monks and nuns,

1 Galatians iv. 10. , John vi. 63.

PROMOTING :MORAL DETERIORATION 195

and of absurd stories of Madonnas and Saints, andtheir wonder-working relics. Worse still, under thepretence of putting the young mind on its guardagainst sin, all kinds of evils are spoken of orhinted at. Boys, for example, are told that theyshould imitate the patron saint of their schools andseminaries, St. Louis Gonzaga, "who was so holythat he could not look his mother in the face."An Italian newspaper, commenting on this, says:"Only a typical Jesuit could invent such an outrageon the most sacred laws of Nature; and, in fact, thismodel saint has logically taken his place alongsideof St. Alfonso de Liguori." Little girls are taughtthat "Christian virginity is a state more perfectand more pleasing to God than matrimony." " St.Euphrasia, at the age of seven, cried out, '0 Jesus II do not want any other husband but Thee.'''Liguori says that girls at play must not be allowedto kiss each other, or to put their arms round oneanother's waist, as these actions may give rise tosexual love; and he praises one little mite who,when a man took her hand in his, withdrew it, andran away, crying, to wash it in a bowl of water!Even Roman Catholic books of devotion, such asThe Garden of the Soul, destroy the innocence ofthe young mind by acquainting it with sins andvices that, happily, are even unknown to grown-upProtestants. :My carpenter told me that he, andmen generally in Italy, recognize a girl who has beentrained by nuns, the very moment their eyes meet;


and said that it is such girls that supply nine-tenthsof those who make a wreck of life. And of girlswho may not so fall, none escape perversion of themoral sense. They can never be trusted to actconscientiously. I dare say the same thing holds ofgirls similarly trained in other countries.

Italy has done well in bundling out of hernational schools all such teachers-priests, monks,nuns, and clericals of every colour and degree, andin throwing out after them all their polluting text-books and prayer-books; even a number of educatedmothers petitioning Parliament, through the Women'sCongress, held in Rome in June 1908, to makeillegal the giving of any Church teaching to theirchildren under any pretext whatever. Italy callsaloud to England to follow her example.

When such teaching is given in Roman Catholicschools, one need not be surprised to learn that thediscipline of the school is very lax, and that childrenare permitted to do things that Protestant childrenwould never be permitted, or even wish, to do.A physician living in Venice, a friend of my own,has just told me that when, in company with otherboys of his school, he went to play in a footballmatch against the boys in a Catholic school, hefound that the lads in the upper forms wereallowed, during recreation hours, freely and openlyto drink, smoke, and play cards "in their class-rooms! And he added that, even as a boy, thesight shocked and repelled him. I do not know


whether such a debasing custom is characteristic ofRoman Catholic schools or not; but very probably itis, because, as we have seen, Roman Catholicism is"of the earth earthy," catering to the lowest desiresand passions of fallen human nature. And, asF. Hugh O'Donnell says in his Ruin of Educationin Irelaaui : "A veritable fount of unpractical livingand uncultured thinking, the Irish convent schoolis a perpetual agency for idleness, shiftlessness,depopulation, and emigration." 1

Lastly, in all Roman Catholic schools, whetherthe more advanced or the mere elementary, especiallyin the latter, there is in full operation, with all itsattendant evils, the spy system. Because of this,hypocrisy takes the place of reality; cunning thatof straightforwardness; duplicity that of sincerity;lying that of truth; and the punctilious dischargeof outward religious ceremonies that of nobilityof character and holiness of life. And thus it hascome to pass that in many a city and town inEngland, wholesome, high-minded, high-spiritedEnglish boys and girls, whose delight it once wasto read British history and to revel in the deeds ofBritish heroes, who, on sea and land, fought thebattle of civil and religious liberty against thetyranny of the Roman Catholic Church, are nowtransformed-I should say degenerated-into morbidsentimentalists, who on Sunday evenings attendRoman Catholic services, and take delight in the

1 The Ruin oj Education in Ireland, by F. H. O'Donnell, p. 104.


lying legends of saints, and in the harlequin trap-pings of priestly sorcerers, and their theatrical anticsat the altar. That is the immoral result of RomanCatholic teaching and training and general influence.

As I have thus shown, the Roman Catholic Churchexercises a demoralizing influence on all with whomshe comes into contact. Some other institutionsmay be even more pernicious in their influence;but such are openly and avowedly evil, and do nothide their true nature under the garb of religion,while their influence is necessarily restricted by lawand public opinion to a few. But the influence ofthe Roman Catholic Church is widespread in manylands, and especially in those where there are noPenal Codes and Disabilities Acts to keep her incheck; and thus, of all immoral organizations onthis sin-laden earth, she heads the list. She hasthe inevitable distinction of being what Satan's"cleverest tour d'adresse" might be expected tobe, the most demoralizing agency in the world.

WAKEUP,ENGLAND!This agency is deterioratingthe moral fibre of your sons and daughters. \VAKEUP, JOHN BULL! This agency is fast demoralizingyou; it is tying you up morally, as it is tying youup intellectually, with the ultimate view of completeslavery and CONQUEST.

XII

Promoting Family Deterioration

"It becomes utterly Impossible, in the Churchof Rome, that the husband should be one withhis wife, and that the wife should be one withher husband."

-FATHER CHINIQUY. The Priest, the Woman, andtke Confessiortal, p. 89.

ACTING thus perniciously on the individual,intellectually and morally, and through theindividual on the State, the Roman Catholic

Church also acts perniciously on the family.Everywhere and always the Church, through her

celibate clergy, has shown herself to be the deadliestenemy of family life existing in the world. St.Paul, in his First Epistle to Timothy, in foretellingthe marks of an apostate Church that was to arise"in the latter times "-such as these, " speaking liesin hypocrisy," having the "conscience seared witha hot iron," and "commanding to abstain frommeats" (all which marks, as we have seen, soaccurately characterize the Papal Church), adds thisother one, forbidding to marry. 1 And it is note-worthy that this last mark, which was found as a

1 1 Tim. iv, 1, 2, 3.199


polluting stain upon the Church as early as theseventh century, was formally accepted by her, andformulated as one of her doctrines in the eleventh.At a Synod held in Rome by Pope Gregory VII., inMarch 1074, it was agreed that celibacy should beimposed upon all the clergy; and that marriedpriests, of whom there were still a considerablenumber, especially in England, should be deposed,and their services declared valueless. Not only so,but the Council of Trent decreed that: "If any-one shall say that the married state ought to bepreferred to a state of virginity, or celibacy, orthat it is not a better and more beautiful thingto remain in virginity or celibacy than to uniteoneself in matrimony, let him be excommunicated." 1

And now, if we ask how such a strange, unnaturaldoctrine could ever have been thought of, much lessadopted, the Apostle Paul furnishes us with an answerin that same passage in his First Epistle to Timothy.He there tells us that all these marks are" doctrines ofdevils," that is, that they are doctrines suggested by,or proceeding from, the minds of devils; and that theyare adopted by those who are under the influence ofsuch beings, who "give heed to seducing spirits."Weare left in no doubt, then, as to who they werethat inspired Pope Gregory VII., and the RomanSynods, and the Council of Trent. They were theagents of him whose masterpiece the Roman Catholic

1Oompendio della Teologia Morale di S. Alfonso de Liguori, byGiuseppe Frll88inetti, vol. i. p. 237.

LE INSIDIE DEL CONFESSIONALE.(Tlte Snares of tlte Confessional.)

L ASINO, '5 Sept. '901.] [B7 ;ermlssio1f. q/ till

HON. G. PODRECCA

PROMOTING FAMILY DETERIORATION 201

Church is, and whose will they obey. Thus trulydid Luther say: "Celibacy is an invention ofSatan, and is productive of an untold amount ofimmorality."

But even if we had not this inspired information,we could be in no doubt as to the origin of such adoctrine, for no tenet more diabolical in its resultshas ever been formulated. Men do not "gathergrapes of thorns, or figs of thistles." The doctrine,like the tree, is known by its fruits; and it is anotorious fact that the Roman Catholic clergy, fromthe highest to the lowest, from Pope to acolyte,have formed the most insolently immoral class insociety, depraved in character and conduct out of allcomparison with others. One has only to readhistory, or to use his own observation, to becomeconvinced of that fact.

But this notorious profligacy of the clergy isaccounted for, not only by their enforced celibacy, butby the immoral teaching to which they are subjected.The chief text-book which they have to study, dayafter day, and year after year, in their theologicalseminaries, and which becomes their vade mecum inconfession, and their indissoluble companion through-out life, is the Theologia Moralis of St. Alfonso Mariade Liguori. This book, I need not say, has nothingin common with text-books used in ProtestantDivinity Schools and Colleges; it has nothing incommon with the Bible, the best of all text-booksfor theological students. It is from beginning to


end a disquisition on every imaginable and unim-aginable vice and crime-special prominence beinggiven to those of the flesh. All the possible andimpossible immoralities of all lands, and throughoutall ages, are here gathered into one vast pestilentialswamp. So obscene is it, and so suggestive ofobscenity, that a large part of it has to be printedin Latin, and is prohibited by the law of everycivilized country from being translated into thevulgar tongue. To test this, Professor Grassman ofStettin published a part of it in German, in 1894;he was condemned. The Societa Editrice Lom-barda of Milan did the same in Italian, in 1900;the books were instantly sequestrated by the ItalianGovernment; and the same results have followedattempts to pnblish it in French and English. Ihave no hesitation in saying that if this book werein universal use, if its teachings were imparted toyoung men generally in our schools and colleges,and if it were made their companion through life,the whole world would soon relapse into the stateit was in before the Flood, when" God saw that thewickedness of man was great on the earth, and thatevery imagination of the thoughts of his heart wasonly evil continually." This is acknowledged evenby leading teachers in the Roman Catholic Churchherself.

I have, lying before me, as I write, a Com-pendium of this Moral Theology, by Prior GiuseppeFrassinetti. In a chapter on the Sacrament of


Penitence, he lays down a number of precautionsto be used by priests in following out the teachingof Liguori in the matter of confession; and thenhe says that if confessors carefully use these pre-cautions they will not fall into sin. And why ~Because" il buon Confessore vedra avverato in semedessimo un miracolo, che e una tra le lJu~belle prove della Religione Cattolica" (Because thegood Confessor will see verified in himself a miracle,which is one of the most beautiful proofs of theCatholic religion). That is to say, God will worka miracle to save him from the effects inevitablyproduced by such reading, awl to prevent himfalling into sin. Then he adds, " Questa e ('osa cliesenza una particulare, e mirable assistenza di Dinsarebbe impossible, e di cui il mondo non vuolepersuadersi" (This-the not falling into carnal sin-is a thing that, without a particular and wonderfulassistance from God, would be impossible, and ofwhich the world will not be persuaded].' He maywell add these words: "Of which the world will notbe persuaded." No, the world is not yet credulousenough to believe that if a man voluntarily entersa pig-sty, and takes up his abode there, God willwork a miracle to save him from pollution! Italydoes not believe it; for I have cartoons, issued inRome, representing the faces of priests being gradu-ally transformed into those of swine as they study

1 Compendio della Teologia Morale di S. Alfonso de Liguori, byGiuseppe Frassinetti, vol. ii. pp. 143-4.


the work of Alfonso de Liguori. Nor can Italysoon forget the awful clerical scandals of 1907,when little children were found to have been abused,in many Church Infant Schools throughout theland, by their priest-teachers and confessors, someof whom were condemned, and their schools closedby order of the Government.

These two causes, then-the unnatural state ofcelibacy, and dwelling in the moral cesspool ofAlfonso de Liguori-are sufficient, and more thansufficient, to account for the proverbial profligacyof the popes and priests of the Roman CatholicChurch; and for the fact that the history of thatChurch in any country is pretty much the historyof the crime of that country, especially of crimesagainst the sanctity of family life.

It was so in England till Reformation times.Wherever an ecclesiastical establishment existed,there family life was imperilled; whilst" benefit ofclergy," and" Bishop's Courts" screened the culpritsfrom punishment. When these privileges were sus-pended, even temporarily, in the time of Henry II.,

and the ordinary law of the land swept the clergyin crowds within its net, it is amusing to read ofthe consternation that reigned amongst them all,from the Archbishop of Canterbury downwards, andto listen to the howl of despair they set up. Mr.Froude, quoting from Becket's "despairing bio-graphers," says: "Then was seen the mournfulspectacle of priests and deacons who had committed


murder, manslaughter, theft, robbery, and othercrimes, carried in carts before the king's commis-sioners, and punished, as if they had beenordinary men! " 1 At the Reformation such" mourn-ful spectacles" were seen ad nauseam, but theultimate result was the elevation and purification ofEnglish family life.

It was so in Central and Southern Italy till 1860,and in Rome till 1870. A Government official toldme that when, as a young man, he lived in CivitaVecchia, it was within his knowledge, and indeed itwas a matter of notoriety, that the priests were thepadroni in every household in the place. Husbandswho attempted to keep their wives from them, 01'

brothers their sisters, were immediately, under sometrumped-up charge. thrown into prison. De Cesarementions that the beautiful Countess Natalia Spadade Medici had three assiduous adorers, the CardinalsUgolini and Gaude, and Monsignor Fiarani; Z andthat Don Filippo de Angelis, professor of Canon Lawin the University, Rome, would sometimes announcea lecture that filled his class-room to overflowing.It began: Hodie tractabimus de jiliis presbyterorum(To-day we shall treat of the children of priests). 3

Rome, the citq of celibates, was also the city wherethere were more foundling hospitals than in all theother Capitals of Europe put together.

1 Short Studies on Great Subjects, by J. A. Fronde, vol. iv. p. 58.t Ramo, e lo Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii. p. 133.3 Idem, vol. ii,p. 18.


The first thing that checked clerical vice, andbrought order and purity into the families of thearistocracy in Rome, was the presence and influenceof English Protestant ladies. Not a few of Italy'sheroes who fled to England during il periodo diterrore (the period of terror), from 1850 to 1870,returned to Italy with English wives, and othersfound wives amongst the English travellers whowent to Italy to pass the winter, or to help on thecause of freedom as represented by General Garibaldi.De Cesare tells us that "these ladies had a greatinfluence on domestic life in the houses of the nobles.The grand princely salons, with their ceilingsadorned with rich stucco work and precious fres-coes, and with their walls hung with masterpiecesof art, yet lacked every comfort. These foreignladies exercised a decisive influence in rectifyingthose very things which were the least beautiful inthe education and habits of the old Roman princes."lThey introduced the word "Home," and imparted ameaning to it.

Indeed, Italy owes far more to English Protes-tantism than is generally realized. Count Cavour,the chief maker of Italy, was saturated with Pro-testantism. His mother, the Marchioness de Cavour,was a Protestant. His grandfather, Count deSellon, was a Protestant. His aunt, the Duchessde Tonnerre, was a Protestant. He himself wasbrought up to a large extent in Geneva amongst

1 Roma e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. p. 93.


his mother's Protestant friends. He learned Englishwhen he was hardly out of his teens; he went toEngland a few years later, and made periodicalvisits ever after; and English statesmen and Englishpolitics determined all he said and did in Piedmont.The scholar, statesman, and senator of the kingdom,Raffaello Lambruschini, was called, because of hisProtestant opinions and principles, and his zeal inpropagating them, it Luterino (the little Luther');'He was a close friend of Count Guicciardini, whois well known in connection with Evangelical workin Florence, and who, indeed, suffered persecutionand imprisonment under the Grand Duke. BnrouRicasoli was practically, if not formally a Protostant.Like Lambruschini, who was his lifelong friend, hestoutly maintained liberty of conscience, and wasaccustomed to say: Fra me e Dio, nessuno ci pubenirare (Between me and God, no one can enterthere]." Gaspare Finale, in his sketch of the life ofRicasoli, to which I have already referred, tells usthat the Baron, in his correspondence with Lam-bruschini, speaks of a new Societa Cristiana(probably the Christian Brethren Church foundedby Count Guicciardini in Florence), discusses relig-ious questions, and asks him to send him a catechismfor his daughter. S Lambruschini, in his reply, tellshim of the exegetical studies of the Gospels he wasconducting, in which he followed now the Martini

1 La Vita Politica di Contemporanei Illustri, by Gaspare Finale, p. 49.2 Idem, p. 30. 3 Idem, p. 31.


(Catholic) version, now the Diodati (Protestant), andnow neither the one nor the other; and he desiresRicasoli to become more intimate with CountGuicciardini, saying that they were nati ad in-tendersi (born to understand each other ).1 Hisbiographer does not think, however, that BaronRicasoli became by profession a Protestant; but hesays he became" that which the greater part ofthe cultured and liberal men of our time and ourcountry have become ... fervent Christians, but notCatholic in the sense of the Catechism or of theSyllabus." 2 He then mentions the followingeminentwriters, Ministers of State, and Senators of thekingdom, as being among those "fervent non-Catholic Christians" : Count Mamiani, Marco Ming-hetti, and the Marquis Gino Capponi. We mightalmost add to this list the name of the great KingVictor Emmanuel II. himself, for he said: "To makeItaly, I have defied everything and everybody, eventhe Inferno itself"; which was true, and which forhim was a very bold thing to do, for it was furthersaid of him that" if it was true that he feared theInferno, it was the only fear of which his naturewas capable," and because of this it was the weaponthe soul-terrorizing Jesuits used, who were his earlyteachers." Lastly, if we can place in the category of"fervent Christians" only a part of the twenty odd

1 La VitaPolitica di Contemporaneifllustri, by Gaspare Finale, p. 31.2 Idem, p. sr.3 L'Italia degli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. iii. pp. 533, 547.


millions of Italians who refuse on principle to crossthe threshold of a Roman Catholic church, we canplace the whole of them in the category of non-Catholics, of anti-clericals.

Court life in Italy is as pure as it is in England;and family life has been elevated and cleansed sincethe door has been shut and barred against the priests.These men are now excluded from social life. Nofamily condescends to receive them. As the wife ofan Italian judge said to me: "Any family receivinga priest would fall in public estimation, and belooked askance at, as being not only unpatriotic, hutimmoral."

And what of English family life, which sincethe Reformation has been the admiration of Christ-endom? That is not what it was. When the priestenters the house, religious discord enters; and peace,mutual trust, guilelessness, and, too often, virtue,fly out at the window. Wives are estranged fromtheir husbands, and daughters from their mothers.It is a common boast of priests amongst themselvesthat they have got the wife of this one, and thedaughter of that other one, at their feet. Familylife is thus embittered, if not destroyed. The un-happy condition of hundreds of families in GreatBritain at this present moment attest these facts.

If there is one word more dear than another tothe English heart, it is the word Cl Home." Wesing of "Home, sweet Home"; we say, "Be it everso humble, there's no place like Home." What

14

210 . THE PAPAL CONQUEST

tender and holy, what happy and sacred associa-tions cluster round it for all of us! And yet" Home" is a word without a meaning to a priest.What does he, with his unnatural celibacy, know ofit? He knows nothing of it; indeed, as I havesaid, he is its enemy, its deadliest enemy. Where-ever priests enter, the Home is in danger. Incountries where the priest is in power, the Home isdesecrated and destroyed. Home-life is unknown.The Englishman's Home is his castle; but the priestsare assailing these castles, and it becomes fathersand husbands and brothers to awake to their danger,and arouse themselves to their defence.

The following letter appeared in the ScarboroughEvening News of March 19, 1906. It was writtenby the Rev. Dr. W. H. Abraham, Vicar of St.Augustine's, Hull, whose daughter, Cornelia, agedtwenty, had been a resident for eighteen months inthe Roman Catholic convent of Scarborough, andhaving died suddenly, was hurriedly buried accord-ing to the forms of the Roman Catholic Church.The father writes :-

"Scarborough people ought to know, I think,that the convent where my poor girl was teaching isa receiving-house for girls who, fascinated by theglamour of the Romish Church, leave their faith andrun away from their homes. Two daughters ofmine have been drawn from their home by falsefriends and persuaded to live in the convent, wherethey gave valuable services as teachers, receiving no


reward, but just board and lodging, and beingdependent upon supplies from home for other com-forts. My elder girl was an art student, and wasintroduced to a Romish priest by artistic friends.She had secret interviews with him, and wasreceived into the Papal Church without my know-ledge or consent at the age of eighteen. Thesecond daughter was a music student at the Guild-hall School of Music in London. I had no suspicionof her tendency in that direction, and she assuredme that she would never take such a step as hersister took without first consulting me. But shewas taken ill, and had to sec a heart specialist inLondon, and an older married sister took her there,and saw her off at King's Cross Station to comeback to me. But instead of coming back she wenton to the convent at Scarborough, deceiving me justas her sister before her. They seemed both to befascinated, under a spell as it were, and no persua-sion of mine could move them. The younger one,who has just died, was home at Christmas, and toldsome of the family how she longed to be back, butsome strange power drew her away from us again.There is another 'child of the vicarage' at theconvent, and for aught I know there may be more.I feel it is time Englishmen asked why these foreignSisters should be dumped down here, and used asagents for seducing our daughters from their homes?

"And I have one more question to ask about theinquest. I sent Mr. Tasker Hart, solicitor, to repre-


sent me at the inquest, and to claim the body of mychild, as I was ill in bed and unable to be present.I wanted to have one last look at the face of my ewelamb; and, as I had baptized her and taught her, Iwished to bury her. But the Coroner chose to givethe body to the elder sister, with the idea that shewould confer with me, and that we might agreeabout the burial. But the curse of the Romishsystem is that it produces serious deterioration inmoral character, and crushes nature. So my poor,misguided, and priest-ridden girl refused to send thebody of her sister to be buried amongst her ownpeople, and wrote me a hard, cruel letter, evidentlydictated by one having influence over her, and notwhat she would have written naturally. I protestedto the Coroner, who kindly went to the convent toput matters right; but the priests misled him intothinking that I had agreed, and so the funeral washurried on, and I was prevented from having any-thing to do with it.

"The Romanists are just now claiming the rightof parents to control the religious education of theirchildren. It will be seen from this case that whenin power they will concede no such right to any butthemselves, and they take our rebellious daughtersto their convents and flout the fathers. Here arequestions for English fathers to consider."

Let me now give a few examples, from my ownpersonal knowledge, as to how the agents of " Satan'sChurch," who are well designated by St. Paul as


"covetous, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, incontinent, traitors, having a form ofgodliness, but denying the power thereof . . . creepinto houses and lead captive silly women." Acouple whom I know of lived happily together inLondon. The husband had to go from time to timeto America on business. On such occasions his wifewas diligently visited by a high Roman Catholicdignitary. One day she coolly told her sister-in-law, a relative of my own, that she was goingto be received into the Roman Catholic Church."Of course, your husband knows all about it?"was the natural exclamation. "Oh no," was theanswer. "I was instructed to tell him nothing."A cablegram was instantly sent off to America, andthe husband returned in time to avert the fatality.But it was a rude shock to family happiness.

In a book which I possess, The Secret Instruc-tions of the Jesuits, to which I have already referred,Chapter VI. is entitled, "Of the Way to Reconcileto the Society the Goodwill of Rich Widows." It setsforth at length all the wiles and deceptions whichonly a Jesuit could think of, or be found capable ofpractising, in order to secure the object in view.Sections 3 and 4 of the chapter instruct the confessorhow to prosecute his object by dealing with theservants-getting rid of some, introducing others, etc.The following experience, told me by a rich widowwhom I knew at San Remo, where she used to winter,corresponds exactly with the instructions given in


this book. This lady had a large establishment inEngland. Something went wrong, she could nottell what. A servant was dismissed and anothertook her place. Again something else went wrong,and a similar change took place. Thus it went onfor months and months, till house-maids, butlers,coachmen, gardeners, all were changed. But whatwas amiss she could not tell. She was more or lessan invalid, and she felt worried to death. At last,she opened her mind to her physician. He listened,and then he said, " Nonsense, you have been readingThe Jesuit in the Family." "The Jesuit in theFamily t" she replied, "I have never even heard ofsuch a book." The physician set to work to solvethe mystery, and he ultimately, by expert help,succeeded. He found that all the new servants wereRoman Catholics, put in by the dignitary to whom Ihave referred. He at once wrote to him, saying that,unless within forty-eight hours all "your emissariesare cleared out of my client's house, the wholenefarious plot will be exposed in the Times."Instantly they were withdrawn to do the Church'swork elsewhere, and my friend was left in peace.

A baronet, who has served his country well invarious diplomatic posts, was in my house with hiswife some time ago. Taking me out of the room,he told me that since we had last met, his wife hadbecome a Roman Catholic. I at once said: "Thenshe is no longer your wife. When you are speakingto her, you are speaking to the Confessor behind her."


" Oh," he answered, "Father -- was too much forher; but it makes no difference." He now knows, I amsorry to say, whether it makes a difference or not, forhis home is broken up. The wife of a Presbyterianminister in Arran, in the winter of 1908, was perverted,with the result that he had to resign his charge. Ihave just received a letter from a friend telling me shefears for her daughter-in-law, a young wealthy lady,who finds a certain "Father" very charming, and likeshim much. How Protestant English husbands andfathers can allow priests, into whom, as Luther hassaid, " Satan enters at consecration as he entered intoJudas when he had received the sop," to cross thethreshold of their doors, far less to become intimatewith their wives and daughters, is a sad phenomenon.In Ireland, where, by a disastrous experience, Protes-tants know better what priests are, they treat themdifferently. When the late Archbishop Tait was Oll

a visit to the then Lord Erne at Crom Castle, CountyFermanagh, he remarked to his host, as was told meby a Bishop who was present on the occasion: "Ihave been with you a month now, and I do notknow that I have ever met a Roman Catholic.""Oh," was the reply, "you might be here longenough and not meet one." "But," proceeded theArchbishop, "do you never ask the Catholic clergyto your house 1" " What!" exclaimed the grandold earl, "ask a Popish priest to my house! ThankGod, there never was one inside it in my time, andthere never shall be."


When my friend, the late Dr. Rutherford, washeadmaster of Westminster School, a boy was got holdof by some Jesuit, and carried into the all-devouringmaw of his Church. And what instructions did thispriest give the lad? "Do not tell your parents orteachers. Go with them to church as usual. I willtell you when to act." I do not know how it faredwith this boy, but I know how it fared with aScottish boy similarly tampered with. The fatherBoon lashed the demon of Popery out of him, and,I believe, would have knocked it out of the cowardlydeceitful priest too, if he could have got his handson him! I need not multiply cases, for I believesimilar ones are within the knowledge of half thepeople in these islands.

And what is the outcome of all this? Theoutcome, as I have already said, and as we all see,is family division, discord, disaster, ruin. Here inItaly, if a member of a family becomes a "clerical,"instantly all its other members feel as if a wall hadbeen raised, as one expressed it to me, between himand them. Now if this is so where all are nominalRoman Catholics, what must it be where all areProtestants? A late Bishop of Salisbury once said:" Too often it seems as if the friend or fellow-workerwho had left us had become almost another person,transformed by a sort of magic, and in so painful amanner, that every thought of him must be accom-panied by a prayer for pardon of his wilfulness andblindness." The outcome is seen in wives being


estranged, morally and spiritually, from theirhusbands, and husbands from their wives; in fathersbeing constrained to drive their perverted sons withtheir Confessors from under the parental roof; indaughters cursing their mothers and families, as didthe infatuated Queen of Spain; and in women,deprived by the Roman Catholic Church of allmotherly love, calumniating and persecuting theirProtestant daughters. Let me give an illustra-tion of this last. The widow of a well-knownMember of Parliament was perverted. She had onechild, a daughter of fifteen years of age, heiress toall her father's wealth, which was very considerable.It was not the old mother the Church wanted-itwas the daughter for the sake of her wealth. Thepriests wrought with the mother until she became,like themselves, "without natural affection." Thedaughter, who was brave and true and good, wouldnot change. She was persecuted until life becamealmost unbearable. Then the trustees (one of whomtold me these details) interfered, and the daughterwas taken from her once happy home and sent toa Protestant boarding-school. And what did thismother do-a high-born, cultured English lady too?She wrote to the matron of the school, imploringher not to receive her daughter, as she wasdepraved, and would corrupt the other girls! Trulya Church that could turn a mother into such amonster is of Satan.

I was told the other day of a lady in


London who, having occasion to leave her twolittle girls for a few months, engaged for thema young woman as governess, mainly becausestrongly recommended to her as being a good Pro-testant. This lady was accustomed every night tohave prayers with her children, and so on the veryevening of her return home she resumed this duty.Going to the bedside of the little ones, she said:"Now, come, let me hear you say your prayers asusual." At once they crossed themsel ves, andbegan a rigmarole to the Madonna. Hardly believ-ing her senses, she called the governess, and askedwhat it meant? The woman very coolly repliedthat she was a Roman Catholic, and held a dispen-sation to pretend to be a Protestant. She wasinstantly shown to the door: she ought to have beenshown the inside of a prison cell. Italy is right inhaving placed the Papal Church in the category ofcriminal institutions.

The mischief done to Protestantism, and throughProtestantism to England, by parents entrustingthe education of their children to Roman Catholicsat home or abroad is incalculable. It does notappear now, at least not in its full-blown virulence,but it will in the next generation. Mrs. Young,who was brought up in a convent school, in address-ing the Scottish Women's Protestant Union inEdinburgh in November, 1908, told her audiencehow Protestant girls were perverted and re-baptized,but at the same time instructed not to tell their


parents. An American lady has just told me thatshe put her son, a boy of eight, in a school taughtby priests, in Florence, on the understanding thathis religion was to be respected. Notwithstandingthis, they soon began to try to make him do whatthe Roman Catholic children did, dip his fingers inholy water, and cross himself. This he refused todo. One day his teacher took his hand to force himto obey, when the lad violently resisted, and, shakinghimself free, ran away from the school. The Rev.R. B. Ransford, Vicar of St. Paul's, Upper Norwood,in a pamphlet entitled Can We Protest Too Much.~says: "Convent schools are receiving thousands ofpupils, and Protestant parents are weak enough andblind enough to send their children to them. Itis not long ago that, calling on some parishioners, Iwas received by two girls who apologised for theirmother's inability to see me, adding, 'And we areCatholics.' 'So am I,' was my response. ' Yes!but we mean Roman Catholics.' 'And I meanProtestant Catholic. But is your mother a RomanCatholic also?' 'No; but we went to a conventschool, and were converted.' No uncommon storythat. Is it pleasant to hear? "

A writer in The Church Gazette for January,1909, mentions the following two cases of theperversion of Protestant girls who were sent abroadto convent schools.

(1) "A young girl was sent to a convent school inFrance some years ago. She was 'converted,' un-


known to her people. When of age, she entered anunnery, and of course handed over to the authoritiesall her property, which, as they well knew, wasconsiderable. The penances and discipline in thisconvent were very severe, and the poor girl con-tracted cancer. She was relieved of her vows andsent home, but of course no money was returned.An operation was performed, and, though disfigured,she recovered. After her mother's death, she wentto Rome and entered a Black Sisterhood, handingover some £2000 which she had inherited. Hardlya year afterwards this convent was closed by orderof the Pope, and the English nuns were given theirbare fares to England. The unfortunate lady is nowliving on a pittance allowed her by relatives."

(2) "The second case is a more recent one, and isthat of a girl sent to a convent school in Brussels.Strict inquiries were made at the time of her entranceas to the attitude of the nuns towards Protestantpupils; and the usual undertakings were given. Yetthe girl entered the Church of Rome, but comingback to England for the holidays, attended the villagechurch, and gave her family no reason to believe thather faith was shaken. When, however, the time camefor her finally to leave school, her family were in-formed that she had been received as a novice. For-tunately strong pressure was brought to bear uponthe convent authorities, and she was allowed toreturn to her home. When questioned, she statedthat, though no actual constraint was used to secure

PROMOTINGFAMILYDETERIORATION 221

her conversion, she found that girls who attendedthe convent chapel were treated more kindly, andwere given many little indulgences; and so she wasgradually led to take the step that was the naturalconsequence of the surroundings in which her parentshad placed her."

Pledges are given by Priests and Nuns in theseschools that the religion of the pupils will not be in-terfered with; but as the above cases show, and manyothers also, these pledges are worth nothing. In everycase, in one way or another, they are broken. Aswe have already seen, and as everyone ought toknow, the oath, not to say the word, of a RomanCatholic is not worth the breath with which it isuttered, when the interests of the Church are aI,

stake. No Catholic is bound to keep faith witha heretic. Roman Catholicism and falsehosd areindissolubly wedded together.

Thus the Roman Catholic Church is steadily de-teriorating and breaking up Family Life in England,and in so doing is morally degrading the whole com-munity, loosening the very foundations of society,and weakening the nation. She is still furthershackling John Bull, in preparation for the FINALCONQUEST.

XlnHoodwinking British Travellers in Rome

.. But here the Babylonian . . . had builtA dome, where flaunts she in such glorious sheen,That men forget the blood which she hath spilt,And bow the knee to Pomp that loves to garnish

guilt."-BYRON. (]hilde Harold, Canto i. st. 29.

BEFORE the Pope lost all temporal and moralpower over his fellow-countrymen, little caredhe for British travellers who might visit

Rome, except to spy upon them, to plunder themby means of fees and taxes, to persecute them, toexpel them, and to imprison them when he dareddo so.

As we have already seen, priests met travellersat the Papal frontier, and searched their luggagefor Bibles, newspapers, and heretical books of allkinds, which they confiscated. No traveller couldenter a place or leave it without having his pass-port signed by the pontifical consul, by the police,and by other officials, for which exorbitant fees hadto be paid, as well as tips presented to those in atten-dance, to avoid endless delays and annoyances.

The Pope forbade the holding of Protestant222

HOODWINKING BRITISH TRAVELLERS IN ROME 223

worship anywhere within the gates of Rome, andinsisted that, if held outside the walls, it should be ina non-ecclesiastical building. Accordingly, Anglicanservices were held in a barn-like structure outsidethe Porto del Popolo, before the doors of which,during Divine service, the Papal sbirri were stationedto watch who they were who entered, and to send inreports about them. Scottish services were held insideRome in spite of the Pope; but they were conductedeither in the minister's" own hired house," or in theresidence of one of the congregation. To avoiddetection there was no singing; and when the servicewas over, the congregation left the place one by oneat intervals. The American Ambassador, GeneralRufus King, arranged a large hall at the Embassy usa chapel for his countrymen, to the displeasure anddread of the proprietress, who, when the lease wasup in 1866, had the palace disinfected of heresyby the application of holy water and the Church'sbenediction.'

Italian noblemen, such as members of theRuspoli and Torlonia families, were banished fromRome because they married English Protestantwives; and in 1851, Arthur Walker was apprehendedand imprisoned in the Bargello in Florence for thecrime of being found with a Bible in his possession.Such is the" tolerance" British Protestants enjoyedin Rome when Pope and priest were in power ; suchis the "tolerance" they would enjoy again if Pope

1Burna e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. pp. 128, 298.


and priest should have their will in Rome; and suchis the " tolerance" that would be meted out to themin England by those same Roman Catholics wholately cried out against Protestant "bigotry andintolerance," because, whilst permitted to carryon their idolatrous juggleries to any extent insidetheir churches, they were forbidden to transportone of their" curious art" productions through thestreets of London.

But now, since the Pope and the Church havelost, beyond the faintest hope of recovery, everyvestige of influence over the Italians, who treatthem with complete indifference, if not with well-deserved contempt, they have developed an extra-ordinary affection for British travellers. All atonce these have become objects of their tenderestcare and solicitude. In order to come into contactwith them, no expense and no trouble are spared.Not only does the Church maintain agents or spies inevery hotel in Rome frequented by our countrymenand countrywomen-spies whoseduty it is to examinethe Visitors' book, which generally lies open on adesk or table in the vestibule, and report dailyarrivals-but the Church has actually bought upsome of these hotels altogether. When I was lastthere, I was shown an hotel the proprietor ofwhich had been a Protestant; but having got intofinancial difficulties, he was about to give it up,when the Jesuits stepped forward, paid his debts,took over the concern, and him too, for he became a


Roman Catholic, and now the place is a flourishingasset of the Pope's Santa Botega (Holy Shop). Thenthroughout the city there are dozens of pensions,or boarding-houses, more than half of which arekept by bigoted female perverts imported by theChurch from Great Britain and Ireland. Thesepensions, and the hotels owned by the Church, arecentres of Papal propaganda. Notices of all Papalreceptions, ceremonies, and services are exhibitedin English on the walls of their drawing-rooms, andpasted on the glass of the inner front-doors, sothat none can miss seeing them. Priests andbegging Sisters are constantly met with ill thelobbies and public rooms. At almost every mealsome priest or a grand monsignore is present, as theguest of the proprietor, or of some Roman Catholicstaying in the house. At table the praises of Popeand Church are sung, and if it be deemed prudent,insinuations are thrown out against the King andQueen of Italy, the Court, and the Government.I have known that done by an English RomanCatholic hotel proprietor so barefaeedly that someof his guests protested, and threatened to leave thehouse. After dinner the priests are introduced toProtestant guests whom they hope to victimize.The conversation invariably drifts towards theChurch, its buildings, pictures, music, services, andof course the Pope is brought in, and his graciousaudiences and receptions. If the Protestants aresimple enough to be caught, they themselves ask

15


about the Pope's audiences, when, according to theeagerness they display to be invited, and the prob-able length of their purses (which the priests haveascertained from their hostesses) is the lying storyconcocted as to the difficulty of securing tickets; thepriests will speak to this and that high personage,even to the monsignore present in the room, whois making himself so charming to all, and they willsee what can be done. All the time they haveany number of tickets in their pockets. It alwaysends one way-tickets are ultimately secured foraudiences of the Pope, and for the best places atPapal receptions and ceremonies, but they have hadto pay this and that other official; indeed, they havereally purchased the tickets at a considerable outlay,which, however, thinking themselves favoured, theguests willingly pay. If, on the other hand, the Pro-testant is shy, and does not care either to see thePope, or attend his ceremonies, then the tickets areoffered for nothing, and, if necessary, pressed uponhis acceptance. Not long ago a friend told me hewas actually badgered in an hotel-pension, kept byBritish Roman Catholics, to accept tickets for Papalceremonies, and to have an audience of the Pope.Indeed, these audiences are given in many instancessolely for English travellers.

The Pope, as everyone knows, is a very commonman, low-born, uneducated, unread, and untravelled.He was born at Riese, a little village in Venetia,that lies half-way between two better-known places,

HOODWINKISG BRITISH TRAVELLERS IN ROME 227

Castlefranco and Asolo, associated, the one withGiorgione, and the other with Browning. In thisvillage his family keep a little drink-shop. WhenI and my wife were there some time ago, I said tohis sister: "Teresa, now that your brother is Pope,it is not very seemly that you should keep a public-house. I think that he might very well give youmoney to enable you to close it and retire.""Money," was the response, "I do not want hismoney. Our business was never so flourishing as ithas been since he became Pope." Giuseppe Sarto,or Papa Bepi, as he is called, never was at adecent school, for the one at Castlcfranco, six milesdistant from Riese, to which he used to run as It

barefooted boy each morning, was taught by priests,who did little more than fill his mind with sillyfables in regard to saints and relics; nor did heever attend a University, for at Padua he was sentto the Papal Seminary where the teaching of Castel-franco was continued, with initiation into themagical arts of his Church. He knows nothing ofhis own country, far less of any other; for, untilhe went to Rome to the Conclave of 1903, he hadnever been out of Venetia, and now that he is Popehe will never go outside the Vatican walls. In theinterests of the Church he must live and die there,a prisoner, with the door locked from the inside,and the key in his pocket, or rather in that ofFather Warnz, the Black Pope, the head of theJesuits, who is Pius x.'s master.


But Sarto is a man of good parts, and of a happyand genial disposition. He is not a hit sancti-monious, and he cares but little for the theatricalceremonies of his Church (which quite bore him,as they bore many), not even for its crowningimposture of the Mass, which, he told a friend ofmine, he says, each morning, "Cos~, cos~" (in akind of a way). "Believe in the Pope!" said Dr.Arnold of Rugby, "I would as soon believe inJupiter"; and Giuseppe Sarto feels the same way.He does not much believe in himself-not as Pope.Many a good story I have heard of him from thosewho were his associates when he was Patriarch ofVenice, and from those who have seen him in"mufti" in Rome.

Qualities other than these are not wanted in aPope, whose chief business it is to obey orders, togrant audiences, to hold receptions, and to signdocuments prepared by others, which he does noteven read; for, as he said: '<Loro" (the Cardinals)"vengono, ed allora e parlare, parlare, parlare ;e poi per me e firmare, firmare, firmare" (Theycome, and then it's talk, talk, talk; and afterwardsfor me it's sign, sign, sign).

The canvassing for these receptions by all kindsof clerical agents in the hotels and pensions fre-quented by our countrymen, of which I have spoken,is only too successful. From one motive or another,very often from curiosity, or because they think itis the thing to do in Rome, the travellers yield to


the disinterested insistence of agents, and attend.On these occasions the Pope makes the most of hisopportunity. If the audience be private, he raiseshis visitors when they kneel to kiss his ring, andmakes them sit near him. He asks kindly aboutthem and their families, of whom he has beenalready told, if they are people of importance; andso he is enabled to say a few things to the point.He rarely asks about their faith, unless he has beentold that it is prudent to do so. He gives themhis blessing in parting, and never fails to thankthem for their kindness and courtesy in coming, andfor the respect thus shown to the Church. He oftenrises and accompanies them to the door, and MYS hehopes to see them again. He is not less courteousto the British bluejackets, who are taken everyyear to see him from Civita Vecchia and Naples,as will be seen from the following notices whichI take from Roman Catholic newspapers :-

The Catholic Times, May 21, 1907, says: "Theofficers from the Lancaster, to the number of thirty,with the Anglican Chaplain, were received by thePope in the Tapestry Hall. Ten of the visitorswere Catholics." The Pope "went among theparty giving his ring to be kissed by each." On theSabbath following, one hundred and six bluejacketsand fifteen officers, including Captain Vivian of thehresistible, visited the Pope. Only a few of thesewere Papists. "The Pope gave his hand to eachone to kiss, and thanked them sincerely for the


kind visit which they had paid him. He thenpronounced a blessing on them all. Everyone ofthe officers and men at the audience received asilver medal of Our Lady Immaculate, having thePope's effigy on the reverse. Lastly, all visitorsand ecclesiastics were photographed in a group,"and had dinner. The Catholic Times, June 7,1907, reports that fifteen officers, only five ofwhom were Papists, and a number of bluejacketsof the flagship Venerable, went from Naples tohonour the Pope; they also kissed his hand, werephotographed, and got their dinner. The Tablet,June 15, 1907, also tells us that Captain Tupperand Commander Bowring, and eighteen officersand one hundred bluejackets of the Prince ofWales, went to Rome from Civita Vecchia, andvisited the Pope. The Captain and Commanderwere received in private audience. All received asilver medal. The Pope thanked them for "thisact of courtesy and religion," in visiting andhonouring him. The Catholic Times, June 14, addsthat the bluejackets "were ranged round the walls,and the Pope passed with his attendants down thekneeling lines, and gave his hand to be kissed byeach one." The Tablet concludes: "Perhaps notmore than a quarter of those present were Catholics,but every man of them sent a lusty cheer afterthe Holy Father."

If the British bluejackets return from theVatican, pleased with their visit to the Pope, and


favourably impressed by him, as these reports seemto say (although many of them, I have been told,think it a good joke), not less is it so with travellers.A favourite phrase with them to express their opinionof him is, "Oh, he was charming." Two Americanladies, relating their experience to a friend of myown, exclaimed: "Oh, how lovely his Holinesswas! For the first time in our lives we felt thatwe should like to be Catholics." Two young ladies,the daughters, too, of an Edinburgh U.F. minister,are reported by their father in one of his Churchpapers to have said: " Kiss his ring! we felt inclinedto kiss him. He was charming! "

We do not blame the Pope for being kind andcourteous, Lor can we expect him to show the clovenfoot. He naturally conceals his characteristics asPope, and reveals those which are more or lessnatural to him as a man. And people are content tosink the Pope in the man. He does not tell them,and they culpably forget, that he is the Head of aChurch, which, when she was in power, as we haveseen, turned Italy into a slaughter-house in her vainattempt to arrest its Independence and Unity;he does not tell them, and they culpably forget,that, claiming the Temporal Power, he puts a weaponinto the hand of any fanatic for the murder ofits lawful Sovereign, as in the case of Bresci, whostabbed King Humbert; he does not tell them, andthey culpably forget, that every blessing they sofreely enjoy in Italy, they owe to the State, and not


to the Church, which would fain treat them, as shetreated their fellow-countrymen before 1870; hedoes not tell them, and they culpably forget, thathe is the Head of a Church which, as we haveseen, dwarfs intellect, lowers morality, extinguishespatriotism-a Church which, as Dr. Arnold ofRugby repeatedly tells us in his Sermons, isblasphemous and profane - blasphemous, in thatit detracts from Christ's mediatorial work with herpriests and sacrifices; and profane, in that she insiststhat only through these can God be approached andworshipped; 1 he does not tell them, and they culpablyforget, that he is the Head of a Church which is theenemy of England, which brought the Spaniardwith his Armada for its conquest in 1588, andwhich hopes to bring a foreign foe for the samepurpose to its shores again; he does not tell them,and they culpably forget, that the very object hehas in view in granting them these audiences,and in appearing before them "as an angel oflight," is to hoodwink them, to strip them of theirProtestantism, to which they owe all they areand have, and so to help on, through them, theunprotestantizing, the unchristianizing of England,in preparation for a final military invasion, that willset him on John Bull's head.

The work of unprotestantizing British subjects,begun by the Pope, is zealously continued by thepriests and their agents. These accompany travellers

1 Ser7lUm.8, by Dr. Arnold, vol. iii., Sermon xi. and Append. ix.


to special Church ceremonies and functions; they showthem the relics of saints, and the treasures of the sacris-ties; they teach them Italian, and act as their guidesto the sights in Rome. Very often the propagandadoes not cease when the travellers leave the Capital.I have known it kept up by means of letters duringthe whole time they were in Italy, and even con-tinued after their return home. Sometimes itresults in perversion; but if only, as Protestants,they are disarmed, and, like discharged prisonersof war, are made to cease to take further part inthe great struggle going on in England betweenProtestantism and Popery, between Christiallityand Paganism, between Biblical truth and RomanCatholic falsehood, the Church, even then, feels thather labours have not been in vain.

In closing this chapter, I desire to say that thisHoodwinking of British Travellers in Rome, whilea matter of no small gain to the Church, is also It

matter of no small loss to Italy. A gentleman ina responsible position in the Quirinal, once saidto me that "the conduct of English and Americantravellers in giving moral and financial support tothe Vatican was sometimes an embarrassment to theGovernment." It is sad that such a reproach shouldhave to be made. Italy is our oldest and warmestfriend; we helped her in her heroic struggles tothrow off the Papal yoke; we enjoy when in Italy,in common with Italians, the blessings of civil andreligious freedom so dearly purchased; it is surely,

"


then, a most incongruous thing that any of ourcountrymen should be found fraternizing with Italy'sdeadliest enemy-and not more Italy's enemy thanour own-one who would destroy every Protestantwho goes to see the Pope, and to whom he is "socharming," if only it had the power, and if he wouldnot renounce his Protestant Christianity, and acceptthe lying Paganism of the Papal system.

I suppose that, so long as the Pope is allowed toremain in Rome, so long will weak-kneed Protestantsgo to see him; and that, therefore, the only wayto put a stop to the evil would be to remove "thekind old gentleman" out of it. That the Popesthemselves expect such a thing to happen, sooneror later, is apparent from Proposition 35 of theSyllabus, which says that: "If anyone asserts thatthere is nothing to prevent the Popedom being trans-ferred by a sentence of a General Council, or by thewill of the people, from Rome to another city, let himbe anathema." The sooner the anathema is incurred,the better. It cannot do the harm which the Pope'spresence in Rome does at present. At the sametime, on no account should the Pope be allowed toleave Italy. He would be able to do far more harmto the country outside of its borders than he canpossibly do inside them; besides which, no othercountry would know, as Italy does, how to keep himin order. England and America would go mad overhim, to their own destruction! If my advice isasked, I can recommend a most suitable place for


him. That is the town of Aquila, in the Abruzzimountains, which Charlemagne once thought tomake the Capital of Italy. In the first place, it ismost difficult of access, so few travellers would careto visit it; and in the second place, there is anearthquake there every day in the year, and two forSundays; so the Pope, and those who show him off,would have something else to occupy their mindswith than with giving receptions.

Pope and priest are fooling Englishmen inRome, as they are fooling them at home. WAKE

UP, ENGLAND!

XIV

The Eucharistic Procession Device

••The Sacrament of the Eucharist is an outrageon human reason, on the one hand; and onthe Divine Majesty, on the other. It touchesthe extreme limits of the Absurd and theImpious."

-PROF. FILIPANTI, Bologna University,L'Universo, vol. iii. p. 891.

ITALY has known for many long years that thePapal Church has had her heart set on the Con-quest of England, and she has been perfectly well

aware of the devices she employs, both at Rome andin Britain, in order to bring this about. From time totime, too, Italy, as we have seen, has thrown out hintsto England warning her of her danger; but itwas theLondon Eucharistic Procession of September 13th,1908, which roused the Italian Press to speak outboldly, and tell her of the nearness of her peril.That procession was, indeed, an insolently audaciousand cunning device to steal a march on England.

I should be sorry to have to identify it, inany way, with the Holy Communion, and I amglad that I need not do so. The two, indeed, areperfectly separate. A Eucharistic Procession has no

236

THE EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION DEVICE 237

more in common with the Eucharistic (or Thanks-giving) Service of the Christian Communion, thanthe so-called expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice ofthe Mass has in common with the Sacrament bv, .'which Christians, in obedience to Christ's command,do "shew the Lord's death till He come."

Indeed, as there is a tendency in nature foreverything to return to its original type, so in this,as in other things, the Roman Catholic Church hasreturned to her essentially pagan character. The oldRomans had a god called Liber, and a goddesscalled Libera; the former presided over the cultiva-tion of the fields, and the latter over that of thevineyards; the former looked after the grain, und tilelatter after the grapes; and so the former hecsmoknown as the god of bread, and the latter IlR thegoddess of wine. The Dictator Postumius built atemple to them in Rome, near the Circus Flaminius,about 500 B.C.; and this was restored, about the timeof our Lord's birth, by Cresar Augustus. In theirhonour a festival called Liberalia was instituted.This was celebrated by priests, in rich dresses ofsilk and brocade, and priestesses, attired accordingto their Orders, with crowds of devotees, marchingin procession from the temple, through the streetsof Rome, chanting hymns and prayers, and carry-ing bread in the form of cakes, and wine, on aportable altar, under a canopy, with banners andburning torches, idols and incense, and all the usual" stage properties of superstition."


The Eucharistic Procession was simply a repro-duction of the Liberalia in all its essential particulars:the only thing it lacked was, that the representativeof the Pontifex Maximus did not carry the cakes ofwafer-bread under a baldachin, because prevented bylaw from doing so; but he probably carried them allthe same up his sleeve-at least, so it was rumouredat the time, both in London and in Rome. Andthis is highly probable, for why should CardinalVanutelli in such a matter have been behind ThomasBecket? When that traitor was summoned, in1164, by King Henry II., to appear before himand the Peers of the realm, at the royal castle ofNorthampton, to answer the charge of havingstolen immense sums of money, when he heldthe office of Chancellor of the Kingdom, he socarried the "cake" per artem magicam et incontemptu regis" (as a magical spell, and in contemptof the King) 1; and as the Liberalia partook to acertain extent of the same characteristics as theBacchanalia, and therefore were marked by riotingand drunkenness, so similar characteristics to acertain extent marked the London reproduction. Aneye-witness thus wrote, on Monday, September 14,in the Pall Mall Gazette, describing what he saw:" I was in a side street near Westminster Cathedralwhen yesterday's procession passed by. The routewas lined with Irishmen in green sashes, bearingblackthorn sticks, and as aggressive in manner as

1 Short Studies on Great Snbj~cts, by J. A. Fronde, vol. iv. p. 65.


low-class Irish alone can be on such an occasion.Up and down the crowd passed young Irish priests,in birettas and short surplices, giving orders, andkeeping up a continual-' Now, you people,remember that you are all to uncover when hisEminence is passing.' The writer took the freedomof disobeying the loud insistent cries of 'Hats off!'which rose all round him as the procession came up ;but, judging from the energetic signals which camefrom the cudgel-carrying stewards, and in particularfrom one young priest who came hurrying up with'Hats off, there!' and received a polite requestto mind his own business, I was under no sort ofillusion as to what would have happened to me hadthe Cardinal been carrying the Host (that is to say.had he been carrying it openly). Volleys of abusefrom the women around only ceased as many kneltdown in the roadway. . . . It is all very wellfor Archbishop Bourne to talk of toleration. Lethim explain whether he understands that word tomean permission to Protestants to keep their hatson, without insult or injury, while the Host passes.He might then go on to tell us what he fancieswould happen when such Irish priests are about, ashe saw fit to let loose In the streets yesterday after-noon." The writer goes on to speak of the neighbour-hood of the Cathedral having had" the appearancein places of a kind of Ballyhooley fair," and of thewhole ceremony being degraded into an "anti-Protestant challenge to a brawl."

240 TmJ PAPAL CONQUEST

From the description of this eye - witness, theLondon Eucharistic Congress appears to have beensufficiently rowdy; but one must remember that theRoman Catholic Church was then on her good be-haviour, for, being the first time it had indulgedin this performance since Reformation times, it wasanxious to conciliate, and not to outrage, publicopinion. Therefore, to see such a Congress in itstrue character, one must see it in a country whereno such restraint exists. I witnessed one such inVenice in 1897. It was the Nineteenth EucharisticCongress, and was held in the large Gothic churchof Santi Giovanni and Paolo. For the occasion thenave was boarded off from the rest of the church,and was fitted with seats and galleries, with a plat-form for the speakers in front of the altar. The sidechapels were turned into shops for the sale ofnewspapers, writing-materials, food, sweets, and suchlike; but the largest chapel was turned into a bar.The Congress was opened on Sunday, August 8th,by the present Pope, then Patriarch of Venice. Theproceedings on the first day were tolerably quiet andwell conducted; but as the Congressmen warmed totheir work, they got more and more hungry, andespecially more and more thirsty. This was still morethe case with those who were present of the manythousands of pilgrims the Church had brought toVenice for the occasion, and who were bent on havinga good holiday. At last the noise and confusion, "therioting and drunkenness," became so disgraceful and


intolerable, that the citizens sent for the police, whoentered the church and closed the chapel bar. Greatscandal was caused throughout all Italy. Anyonewanting further details can consult the Venetianpapers of that date.

Italy warns us that this is the sort of thing thatwill take place in England one of these days, with apagan procession thrown in, unless John Bull rouseshimself.

Let us now examine a little into these strangeEucharistic Congress phenomena.

Religious processions are, of course, pagan in theirorigin. The old Greeks and Romans made themin honour of each and all of their "gods mallY,and lords many," when they wanted them to staysome plague, or to avert some threatened calamity,or when they wished to thank them for some blessing,such as deliverance from defeat, or pestilence, earth-quake or famine, exactly as the Roman CatholicChurch does everywhere to-day. Every town andvillage in Italy had (and has still, after a fashion,which I shall explain) its annual procession, inhonour of its gods and goddesses, Madonnas andsaints, whose protection is thus invoked, or who arein this way thanked and propitiated.

For the old pagan Greeks and Romans theprocession was part of the religious service theyrendered to their divinities; it was in itself an actof worship. And so it is still for these far worsepagans of modern times, the members of the Roman

16


Catholic Communion. The present Pope in hisCatechism, to which I have already hadoccasion torefer, explains in Chapter IX. the meaning ofprocessions, in these words: "Si fanno dalla chiesaprocessioni e preghiere solenni per placare Iddio, erenderlo a noi propizio, affinche ci perdoni ipecati, tenga da noi lontani i suai castighi, ... " 1

(solemn processions and prayers are made by theChurch to appease God, and to render Him pro-pitious to us, in order that He may pardon our sins,remove far from us His chastisements ... ). I desirehere to say that this statement alone is sufficient toshow that the Pope has yet to learn the very rudi-ments of the Christian faith. For, in the first place,he imagines that we have to do something to changeGod's attitude toward us, instead of realizing thatwe have to change our attitude toward God; andthat this is effected, not by anything we can do, but

. by our accepting God's Fatherly love in the LordJesus Christ. And, in the second place, he imaginesthat one of the somethings we have to do is to takepart in a procession! That is the Pope's idea ofGod-a Thundering Jove to be propitiated, andrendered merciful towards us, by such trivialities!

"Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rageThe god propitiate, and the pest assuage."

All Roman Catholic processions then, in theestimation of that Church, are acts of worship, andtherefore it must be apparent to everyone that

1 Oompendio Iklla Dottrina Orutiana, prucritto da Pio X" p. 319.


the demand to be allowed the privilege of perform-ing such acts in the public streets of the Capital ofa civilized country, not to say a Christian country, tothe impeding of public traffic, was a piece of sheerpresumption and ought to have been treated assuch. Doubly so, when the demand was made inface of the law of 1829, which, conceding to theRoman Catholics many privileges, expressly forbadethe performance of any rites and ceremonies, or thewearing of priestly vestments, outside their placesof worship, which prohibition was approved andstrongly recommended by Bishop Doyle and theother representatives of the Church, who wcre eallclias witnesses before the Committees of thc HOWiC ofLords and the House of Commons.

But there are processions of many kinds, and.a Eucharistic Procession is one of the worst type.As the name implies, it is a procession in honour ofthe "Eucharist," or rather of the "wafer," which,taken from its tabernacle on the altar and placedunder a canopy, is carried with great pomp andceremony through the streets, exposed to public view.This is what the procession was meant to have beenin London, had not the Government stepped inand prevented it; for even though the Host mayhave been carried, yet, as it was not exposed topublic view, the procession was robbed of its chiefsignificance and its dangerous character. For hadit been permitted, and had it passed off quietly(an impossible supposition, as is apparent from the


processional riots that have since taken place atLiverpool and other places), it would have been one ofthe greatest victories yet won by the Roman CatholicChurch in its present warfare against England. Italy,as we have noted, at once saw it in this light, andwarned us; and happily, though tardily, the BritishGovernment so realized it likewise, and the enemiesof the country were baffled in their nefarious attempt.

Let us now see in what consists the significance,and dangerous character of an Eucharistic Procession;for it seems a small matter, the carrying about of apiece of bread in public procession.

To us Protestants, to Christians in general, to allperfectly sincere and sane people, bread is bread,even when it is used on the most solemn occasion-that of the observance of the Lord's Supper. Itis regarded in that Sacrament as being a symbolor type of Christ's body, and we break it and eatit in obedience to His command, "This do in re-membrance of Me"; seeking, whilst so doing, torecall to mind, and to realize vividly, with gratefuland loving hearts, His atoning death for us on theCross, and to rejoice in the all-sufficiency of thatatonement, for the forgiveness of our sins, and forour complete salvation.

But to a Roman Catholic it is something verydifferent. By a priest pronouncing over it certaincabalistic words-Hoc est corpus meum-accompaniedby a number of movements of the body, throwingup of the arms, and waving of the hands over the


elements after the manner of a magician, althoughlacking all the grace and skill of a magician's play,he changes it into the body of Christ! It stillhas the appearance, colour, taste, form, and other" visible properties" of bread, but these he is taughtby his Church to say, are only "accidents"; whilstin "essence" and in "substance," and in other"invisible properties," it has been changed, to usethe words of Pope Hildebrand, "into the true bodyof Christ, which was born of the Virgin, ... inpropriety of nature, and truth of substance." Thismonstrous idea, which was unknown in the worldfor long centuries, is not of Christian origin at all.It was born of paganism. It first arose in the mindsof the hordes of barbarians, Goths, Lombards, andFranks, who swept over Italy like a destroying flood,from the close of the fifth to the close of the eighthcenturies, and who knew nothing of the Bible or ofChristianity, but who were nevertheless received intothe membership of the already half-paganized RomanChurch. The priests speedily took up the idea.In the ninth century Paschasius Radbert, a Bene-dictine monk of Corbey, published a treatise insupport of it; in the eleventh century, Pope Hilde-brand, as is shown by the quotation I have givenfrom his writings, endorsed it; in the thirteenthcentury Pope Innocent III., at the fourth LateranCouncil, made its acceptance compulsory; and finallyin the sixteenth century, under the Popedom ofJulius III., it was made a Dogma of the Church, the


wording of which is as follows: " ... and this HolyCouncil doth now declare it anew, that by the con-secration of the bread and of the wine a conversionis made of the whole substance of the bread intothe substance of the body of Christ, and of the wholesubstance of the wine into the substance of His blood,which conversion is by the Holy Catholic Churchsuitably and properly called Transubstantiation."

The Council then proceeded to formulate thefollowing anathemas against all who should rejectit:-

I. If anyone shall deny that in the Sacramentof the most Holy Eucharist there are containedtruly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood,together with the Soul and Divinity of our LordJesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ, andshall say that He is only in it by sign, or figure, orinfluence, let him be accursed.

II. If anyone shall say that in the Sacramentthere remains the bread and wine along with theBody and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, andshall deny the wonderful conversion of the wholesubstance of the bread into the Body, and of thewhole substance of the wine into the Blood, whichconversion the Catholic Church most appropriatelycalls Transubstantiation, let him be accursed.

The Rev. Frederick Robertson of Brighton callsTransubstantiation "a contradiction to Christianity,which is a spirit and a life." 1 Mr. Froude calls it

1 Life and Leuer« of the Rev. F. W. Robertson, by Stopford A. Brooke,vol. i. p. 171.


"the strangest of all human superstitions," and hethought it no more worthy of respect than table-turning. One cannot but agree with both thesewriters. I am inclined to rank it among the"curious arts," which St. Paul combated atEphesus, and to class Pope and Priest with Elymasthe sorcerer, whom the Apostle discomfited atPaphos, in Cyprus.

"In the twelfth century," Froude writes, "themystery called Transubstantiation had come to beregarded with widespread misgiving. To encounterscepticism, there then arose for the first time whathave been called pious frauds. 1t was not perceivedthat men who lend themselves consciously to lies,with however excellent an intention, will becomeeventually deliberate rogues. The clergy doubtlessbelieved that in the consecration of the elements aninvisible change was really and truly effected. Butto produce an effect on the secular mind the invisiblehad to be made visible. A general practice sprungup to pretend that in the breaking of the wafer realblood had gushed out; that real pieces of flesh werefound between the fingers." 1

I saw one of these" pious frauds" when visitingOrvieto. In 1263 the priest at Bolsena, a placenear by, who was sceptical as to the truth ofTransubstantiation, was one day saying mass whensuddenly, as he broke the wafer, it became notonly in "essence" and "invisible properties," but

1 Short Studies on Great Subjects, by J. A. Fronde, vol. ii, p. 49.


in its" accidents" and "visible properties," flesh inhis hands, and blood dropped from it on to thecorporal, or cloth which covered the elements.When Pope Urban IV. was informed of the miraclehe at once declared it to be a true one, and gaveorders for the erection of Orvieto Cathedral, witha special chapel in which was to be preserved theblood-stained corporal used by the priest at Bolsena.These orders were in due time carried out. Thiscloth I have seen lying in a huge silver box, whichweighs nearly five hundred-weight, and which ismodelled after the design of the facade of the church,in the Cappella del Corporale, in that monu-mental church. Lastly, in order to keep the" Pope-attested" pious fraud in proof of Transubstantia-tion before the eyes of the "faithful," Urban IV.

instituted the festival of Corpus Domini, which,existing for a purpose so consonant with the geniusof the Church, is observed annually with extra-ordinary pomp and display. We find, then, that thispalpable falsehood of Transubstantiation-a falsehoodin spite of its bolstering up "so palpable as to beworse than atheism itself," is nevertheless the souland centre, the beginning, middle, and end, of theRoman Catholic faith.

Archbishop Bourne of Westminster, in a pastoralletter printed in The Times, of September 4, 1908,calls the Eucharist "the central mystery of ourreligion." And so vehemently does the Churchcling to it, that, as we have seen, it curses all who


reject it, and has imprisoned, tortured, and murderedsuch in the past, when it had the power to do so,not by hundreds or thousands, but by tens ofthousands. Mr. Fronde, in speaking of this, says:" The Jacobin convention of 1793-94 may serve asa measure to show how mild are the most ferociousof mere human beings when compared to anexasperated priesthood. By the September massacre,by the guillotine, by the fusillade at Lyons, and bythe drownings in the Loire, five thousand men andwomen at the utmost suffered a comparatively easydeath. Multiply the five thousand by ten, and youdo not reach the number of those who weremurdered in France alone in the two mouths ofAugust and September 1572. Fifty thousandFlemings and Germans are said to have been hanged,burnt, or buried alive under Charles the Fifth.Add to this the long agony in the Netherlands inthe revolt from Philip, the Thirty Years' War inGermany, the ever-recurring massacres of the Hugue-nots, and remember that the Oatholic religion alonewas at the bottom of all these horrors, that thecrusades against the Huguenots especially weresolemnly sanctioned by successive Popes....The so-called horrors of the French Revolutionwere a mere bagatelle, a mere summer shower, bythe side of the atrocities committed in the nameof religion, and with the sanction of the OatholicChurch." 1

] Short Studies 011 Great Subjects, by J. A. Froude, vol. ii. p. 174


Motley tells us in his Rise of the Duiel»Republic, that " upon the 16th of February1568, a sentence of the Holy Office condemned allthe inhabitants of the Netherlands to death asheretics. From this universal doom only a fewpersons especially named were excepted. . . . Thiswas probably the most concise death-warrant thatwas ever framed. Three millions of people-men,women, and children-were sentenced to the scaffoldin three lines." 1 How many people in the Nether-lands, under Cardinal Granvelle, the Duke of Alva,with his Council ofBlood, and Philip II., were burnedto death, or were hanged and beheaded, with theirtongues (to prevent them addressing the people) putthrough iron rings and then scarred with a hot iron,so as to cause inflammation and swelling, which pre-vented their being withdrawn; or were drowned intubs of water with their heads tied between theirknees, can never be known. Grotius thinks thatthere could not have been less than one hundredthousand ladies who obtained absolution and a title toheaven by witnessing an auto-da-fe ! No wonderMr. Fronde says: "With this infernal businessbefore men's eyes, it requires no commonintellectualcourage to believe that God was on the side of thepeople who did such things, to believe that Heallowed His cause to be defended by devils. . . .The blackest ogre in a Negro fetish is a benevolentangel compared to a god who can be supposed to

I Rise of the Dutch Republic, by Motley, p. 275.


have sanctioned the massacre of St. Bartholomew." 1

And yet, as we have seen, the Roman CatholicChurch to-day, by the Syllabus promulgated byPius IX. and by the lips of not a few of its repre-sentative men, avows itself ready to re-enactsimilar butcheries against those who repudiate" thecentral mystery" of its faith, and refuse to recognizepriest, or mass, or papal Eucharist in any shape orform; and there is no reason to doubt that it woulddo so in Ireland if Home Rule gave it the power,and in England if it had a numerical majority at itshack. What Motley said of the Duke of Alva holdstrue of the Roman Catholic Church: "the world hasagreed that such an amount of stealth and ferocity, ofpatient vindictiveness and universal blood-thirstiness,was never found in a savage beast of the forest." 2

Now why does the Roman Catholic Churchmake Transubstantiation the soul and centre ofits faith, for which it is prepared to murder allwho refuse to accept it? Is it because the Churchloves and obeys the Lord Jesus Christ? The ques-tion is too absurd to require an answer. Not onepriest in a hundred, except perhaps some of thosein England who have gone back from Protestantlight to Papal darkness, knows, or is capable ofknowing in the Christian sense of the term, any-thing about Christ. I once heard a Jew scornfullytell some Italians that they did "not even know

1 Short Studies on Great Subjects, by J. A. Fronde, \'01. ii.p. 175.I Th,e Rise of the Dutch Republic, by Motley, p. 253.


Jesus Christ by name"; and, as we have seen, oneold priest himself confessed that Mariolatry had sosupplanted Christ, that" [01'0 hanno messo Ges~i inpensione" (they have put Jesus on the old agepension fund). Is it because they so reverence theChrist of the priest's manufacture? Nothing of thekind. An English Rector after travelling throughItaly, and having attended many Roman Catholicservices and visited innumerable churches, said tome: "From all I have seen, my conviction is thatI could spit upon any altar in the land for a franc."Is it because the priests themselves are profoundlyconvinced that a change of the elements into thebody and blood of Christ takes place when they utterthe magical words over them? Nothing of the kind.Just as too many of them do not believe in ChristHimself, so they do not believe in Transubstantia-tion. A late Canon of St. Peter's-a man farabove the majority of his fellows-told me of howonce, early in his priesthood, he was startled andhorrified when saying mass, to hear his assistantpriest by his side make a mock of it, and tell him tohurry on and get it over. . The same thing happenedto Luther when he was saying mass in Rome. ThePope himself cannot have a very great belief in it,since, as I have already noted, he says that he per-forms it each morning" cosz, cosz" (in a kind of l\

way). Luther tells us how, when he was in Rome,he heard priests, as they manipulated the bread, say:"Bread thou art, and bread thou shalt remain."


Priest-nature, as the experience of the Canon ofSt. Peter's which I have given shows, has notchanged much since Luther's day, so we may safelyclass with these sceptical priests, the Pope, the altoclero, and many of the basso clero.

Why, then, is this" palpable falsehood" of Tran-substantiation made the soul and centre of theCatholic faith, and so desperately insisted on thatthe Church is prepared to kill all who deny it?There is only one answer possible. Because ofthe power it gives the priest over the souls, bodies,and purses of his dupes.

By this "absurdity" and" impiety" the Sacra-ment of the Lord's Supper becomes 11 bloodypropitiatory sacrifice, and thc officiating priestbecomes n. sacrificing mediatorial priest; and, assuch, he comes between God and the sinner, whocan only approach God through him, and thereforethe priest has got the man's salvation in his hands-he has got him in his power, body, soul, and (as weshall by-and-by see) purse, for that is the main thing.

And this fictitious power of the priest is exaltedto the very skies. As Pope Urban II. has said, "thehands of the priest are raised to an eminence grantedto none of the angels, of creating God, the Creatorof all things"; and hence the priest is not only spokenof, in many books of devotion, as being "equal ingrandeur to God Himself," but, as the" creator ofthe Creator," he is exalted" above all that is calledGod, or that is worshipped." Nor is this ascription


of divine power to the priest an empty phrase, ablasphemous compliment; for, in the estimation ofpoor ignorant Roman Catholics, such as exist in tensof thousands in Ireland, and in Malta, in Spain, andBelgium, he takes the place of God. Him they obeywith equal docility, whether he commands them toL10 good, or, as is too frequently the case, to becomehis accomplice in evil. They no more question hisauthority than a Christian Protestant questions thatof the Creator.

Confirmation of this has just come to me froman intelligent Italian woman in Roncegno, Austria,who, whilst giving massage to my wife, and talkingabout religion, said that the parish priest give!::!permission to his people to do, during the heightof the bathing season, things that are forbiddenall the rest of the year; and they do them with-out compunction, for, she added, "il pr-ete e loroDio" (the priest is their God). And it is not poorignorant people alone who so regard him; I believeall "good" Roman Catholics do so too. CanonRansford, in an excellent sermon entitled Can WeProtest Too Much? tells us that Pope Innocent III.

said: "Jesus Christ died to institute the priesthood.We can imagine other ways in which sinners mighthave been saved. But had Jesus Christ not died,where should we find the victim which the priestoffers 1" According to that Pope, Christ did notdie to save sinners, but "to institute the priest-hood," and to provide the priest with a "victim,"


which he may sacrifice on the altar for the sinsof the people. And Pope Innocent goes on toelaborate this by declaring that Christ divestsHimself of all power of action, of all power evenof volition, and of all interest in the sinner, infavour of the priest. He says: "In obedienceto the words of the Priest, 'HOG est corpusmeum,' God Himself comes, comes whenever called,and places Himself in the priests' hands. Andafter having come, He remains entirely at theirdisposal. They can move Him as they please; theycan shut Him up in the tabernacle; they can carryHim outside the church. God Himself is obligedto abide by the judgment of His prieets, and eitherto pardon or not, according as they givc or refuseabsolution." Anyone, then, who believes thismonstrous thing, is henceforth entirely at themercy of the priest. His eternal destiny is inhis hands.

Let me still further illustrate this by a passagefrom the Catechisme de Perseverance (vol. iv. p.288), of the Abbe Gaume; whose "Manual forConfessors" was adapted for the use of Anglicansby the late Dr. Pusey. I take it from this samesermon of Canon Ransford. It is as follows :-

"What language of man can speak the dignityof the priesthood and the greatness of the priest '?The first man was great, who, established as Kingof the universe, commanded all the inhabitants ofhis vast domain, and was dutifully obeyed. Moses


was great, who by a word divided the waters of thesea, and made an entire people to pass between theirsuspended masses. Joshua was great, who said tothe sun, ',Sun, stand still,' and the sun stayed, obey-ing the voice of a mortal. Kings of the earth aregreat, who command vast armies and make the worldtremble at the sound of their name.

" Ah, well! there is one man greater still. Heis a man who, every day when he pleases, opensthe gates of heaven, and, addressing himself to theSon of the Eternal, to the Monarch of the worlds,says to Him, 'Descend from your throne. Come! 'Docile, at the voice of this man, the Word of God,He by Whom all things were made, instantlydescends from the seat of His glory, and incarnatesHimself in the hands of this man, more powerfulthan kings, than the angels, than the august Mary.And this man says to Him, 'Thou art my Son, thisday have I begotten Thee. Thou art my victim,'and He lets Himself be immolated by this man,placed where he wills, given to whom he chooses:this man is the priest.

"The priest is not only all-powerful in heavenand over the natural body of the Man-God; he isalso all-powerful on earth over the mystical bodyof Jesus Christ. Look! a man has fallen into thefoils of the devil; what power can deliver him?Call to the help of this wretch the angels and arch-angels, St. Michael himself, chief of the heavenlymilitia, conqueror of Satan and his rebellious legions.


The holy archangel can well drive away the fiendswho are laying siege to the unfortunate wretch, butnot the one within his heart. He will never be ableto break the chains of the sinner who has put histrust in him. Whom, then, will you ask to deliverhim? Call upon Mary, the Mother of God, theQueen of angels and of men, the terror of hell?She can well pray for his soul, bat she would notknow how to absolve him from any fault, howeversmall: the priest can.

"Nay, more! let us suppose that the Redeemeris descending in person visibly in a church, andestablishing Himself within a confesaional to ad-minister the Sacrament of Penance at the samemoment that the priest is seating himself in another.The Son of God says, 'I absolve thee,' and thepriest on his part says, 'I absolve thee,' and thepenitent finds himself equally absolved by the oneas by the other.

"Thus the priest, powerful as God, can in aninstant snatch the sinner from hell, render him fitfor Paradise, and make of a slave of the devil a sonof Abraham. God Himself is obliged to adhere tothe judgment of the priest, to refuse or to accordHis pardon, as the priest refuses or accords theabsolution if the penitent be worthy of it. Thesentence of the priest goes before; God does nothingbut subscribe to it. Can a greater power, a higherdignity be imagined 1"

No wonder Dr. Arnold of Rugby calls the priest's17


claims" blasphemous" and" profane." "Is it any-thing less than a positive blasphemy," he writes, "torequire the mediation of an earthly priest betweenthe Christian and his true Divine Mediator ~ Thefact is, that as long as the true view of theCommunion was retained, namely, that it was acommemoration of Christ's sacrifice, in which everyman offered himself also as a living and spiritualsacrifice to God, so long would the pretendednecessity of a priestly mediation be seen to befalse and profane. But when, for the very purposesof priestly ambition, the Communion was represented,not as a commemoration of Christ's sacrifice, but asa repetition of it; when the spiritual sacrifice ofevery Christian, which of necessity implied thatevery man was his own priest, was superseded bythe notion that the Church offered up Christ forthe remission of sins, then it followed naturallyenough that a sacrifice required a priest, that anexternal rite of sacrifice performed by the Churchimplied a regular priesthood to offer it; and thusthere was raised up a fabric of profane superstition,whieh the Church of England justly describes bythe strong expressions, 'blasphemous fables anddangerous deceits' (Art. XXXI.)." 1

When one realizes all that is involved in thepalpable falsehood of Transubstantiation, "all thoseprofane invasions of Christ's mediatorial office," touse Dr. Arnold's words; when one realizes the

1 &rmII1!S, by Dr. Arnold, vol. iii. Appendix to Sermon XI. p. 284.

THE EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION DEVICE 25!)

height of power to which it raises the priest, makinghim the arbiter of a man's destiny, then we ceaseto wonder that our forefathers denounced it in thestrongest terms-Ridley calling it a piece of" craftyjuggling"; Hooper, "a profanation of the Lord'sSupper" ; Bradford, a thing" detestable and mons-trous "-and that they went to prison and to thescaffold, to the block and to the stake, rather thanadmit it!

And now, what has one to do to secure aninterest in the priest's propitiatory sacrifice, andso obtain absolution and salvation? Buy it! Givehim money! He is ready and waiting to offer thesacrifice of the mass for you; but every mass, exceptthat of the ordinary church service, must be paid for,everything resolving itself ultimately into a questionof pounds, shillings, and pence. We are now in aposition to realize something of the enormity of theimpudence and arrogance of the Roman CatholicChurch in her demand to be allowed, not only tohave a procession, which as we have seen wasa sufficiently mischievous thing, but to have aprocession of the Host through the streets ofLondon. Such a procession meant that not onlywere Romanists to be allowed to exhibit their"blasphemous fable" in public, but they were toexhibit it as a king and a god enthroned in state;and as such not only were they to have the rightthemselves to adore it in public, but the right tocall on all others to do the same, by uncovering

260 THR PAPAL CONQUEST

their heads and going down on their knees. Itmeant a public recognition of all the monstrousclaims which, as we have seen, are made on behalfof the Roman Catholic Church and her priesthood;and the right of the Roman Catholic Church andher priesthood to enforce these claims, which, as thewriter in the Pall Mall Gazette has shown us, theIrishmen in green sashes, with their blackthornsticks, under the command of their priestly leaders,would fain have done.

In Italy, when the Church was in power,such Host processions were of constant occurrence;and on such occasions, all the rowdyism whichcharacterized the Eucharistic Congress in Venice,and which was barely held in check in London,was in full play. Traffic was suspended, shopswere closed, people who lived in the streets throughwhich the procession passed were compelled tothrow open their windows and hang out whateverrich coloured material they possessed, mats, silkrobes, and tapestries, and to decorate them stillfurther with Papal bunting and lighted candles.All who met the procession, men and women, boysand girls, had to drop on their knees, no matterwhat the weather was or the state of the roads, andall had to bow their heads in adoration, the men andboys with their hats off, as the priests passed withtheir enthroned fetish. Those who did not uncoveror bow down and worship, at what time they heard"the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,


psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music," wereknocked down by the" bludgeon-men."

In Italy, whilst the local authorities have thepower to permit the parish priests in a town towalk in their vestments from one church to anotherfor a special function, all Host processions, suchas we have been considering, were put a stop toyears ago. The people on no account will toleratethem. I saw what, I believe, was one of the lastattempts made by the Church to have a Hostprocession. This was in Genoa in 1882. It wasCorpus Domini: day, that day, which, we have seen,is the Church's standing monument to the lietold by Pope Urban IV. in confirmation of Tran-substantiation. I was driving about the city, andreached the open square in front of the Cathedralabout midday. It was full of people, and I toldthe coachman to draw up. Just then the bellsbegan to ring, and all eyes were directed to theCathedral door. Soon the Corpu« Domini proces-sion, which had been formed some time before insidethe Cathedral-for the leaders of it had hesitatedwhether to risk bringing it out or not-began toappear. Slowly the Archbishop, the Bishops, andthe priests, all gorgeously panoplied, the monks intheir variously coloured cloaks and hoods, theJesuits in black, with all the attendant deacons,acolytes, and sacristans, began to descend theCathedral steps, carrying aloft crosses, banners,images, and relics; and in the midst of all was


the" blasphemous fable," enthroned in state, under agorgeous baldachin. They were allowed to gain thelevel square, when suddenly, as if moved by a com-mon impulse, the people threw themselves in a wildrush upon them; and then, as suddenly, Archbishopand Bishop, priest, monk, and Jesuit, with all " theirstage properties of superstition," were rolling andsprawling in a mass of confusion in the dust.That is how Italians, who know by a long and bitterexperience what the Roman Catholic Church really is,are determined to deal with these modern successorsof Simon Magus, of Apollonius of Tyana, andAlexander of Paphlagonia.

WAKEUI-,JOHNBULL! The Eucharistic Congressheld in your Capital, and its procession, like thehuge fabric of the Cathedral with which they wereassociated, have a very ominous, a very sinister, avery menacing look. They all form part of a deeply-laid Papal plot for your subjugation. They all say,as plainly as language can: "See what a powerwe Roman Catholics have become in England.Already we can treat with the State on equal terms.Already we can say to England's Prime Minister,, We count on your protection for our procession.'Already we can invoke the secular arm in aid of ourprojects. But we do not mean to rest here. Forjust &8 we have built our Cathedral tower, proudlyto overlook the Houses of Parliament, BuckinghamPalace, and half of London, so our hope is that oneday we will dominate State, Throne, and People."


Italy warns us that it is high time we realizedour peril. She warns us that the deadliest enemy ofa nation's mental vigour, moral stamina, and materialprosperity, is not only taking advantage of ourtolerance and trustfulness to damage us in every waypossible, but is planning and labouring to destroyour civil and religious liberties, which constitute thevery life of the individual and the nation. WAKE

UP ENGLAND!

xvCapturing the English Press

"Not light, but rather darkness visible."-MILTOK.

MR. FROUDE, writing half a century ago onThe Revival of Romanism, said: "She," theRoman Catholic Church, "has taken into her

service her old enemy the Press, and has establisheda popular literature." If that was the case then, outof all comparison is it so now. She, indeed, "hastaken into her service her old enemy the Press"with a vengeance; for the Pope and the CuriaRomana have become newspaper proprietors!They run a paper on their own account.

This paper bears a proud title, printed in twolanguages, Italian and French-La GorrispondenzaRomana. La Correspondance Romaine. It isprinted and published in Rome at the offices ofLa Societa Tipografia Romana, 23 PiazzaMignanelli, which is a subdivision of the well-known Piazza di Spagna, where some of the chiefEnglish hotels are situated, and it is only to bebought there. It is not given to newsagents andbooksellers to be sold like other newspapers.

2G·1

CAPTURING THE ENGLISH PRESS 265

I have several copies of this official organ ofthe Vatican lying before me, and I desire briefly todescribe it, for it is a curiosity in journalistic enter-prise. Such a rag of a paper I never handled before.It consists of a single sheet doubled, thus makingfour pages, and it only measures fifteen inches byeleven. On opening the one numbered 80, datedApril 24, 1909, I find that the inside is a blank!It is printed only on the two outer pages. Inexamining these, I found that half of one of themconsists of advertisements, so that I should have 110

difficulty in copying on to a sheet and a half ofordinary writing paper all the news which the papercontains.

And now for its contents! There are short descrip-tions of Audiences given and Moneys taken by thePope; Dissension amongst the Jews; Echoes fromSpain, Portugal, and Germany; The OttomanCrisis and the Mennonites (Anabaptists) of Holland.A second copy has about the same quantity of news,and a whole page is taken up with the announcementof a present worth twenty-five lire (£1) which thepaper is prepared to give gratis a tutti (for nothingto all), to those who will send five lire (4s.) to payfor postage, etc.! The present is an oil picture of thePope, Pius x. The first article in this copy is entitledUne Nuee de Canards (A Swarm of Hoaxes), andapparently anticipating the notion that the giftitself might be thought one of these, the announce-ment says, "Garantiamo la sinceriu» del nostro


reqalo" (We guarantee the seriousness of ourpresent).

But still this shabby curiosity of a paper is notto be despised; there is more in it than meets theeye. I believe that its pages, supplemented by oralcommunications made to foreign correspondents inRome, furnish all that prodigality of Vatican newswhich appears in our English daily papers.

A certain mystery surrounded its birth, and acertain mystery surrounds its character and dailylife-as we learn from an article in the ContemporaryReview, entitled The Vatican and the Press, byGranvelle. The writer tells us how the first copy thatattracted public attention in Rome was numbered45, and was dated, July 7, 1907. "80," he writes,"there was a new organ, which had been started insecret, and was being launched by a proceeding wellknown to the American Press and to Europeanjournals of the American kind, but of quite unfore-seen application in the ecclesiastical and theologicaldomain. . . . The date of July 7 marks, if not thebirth of this semi-official paper, at any rate its entryinto the world. No one before that day had sus-pected its existence, which no doubt dated backseveral months .... What, then, was the Corri-spondenza Romana t Who had started it? Whowas managing, who editing? What were its exactrelations with the Holy See and with the StateSecretariat '{ Such questions were asked persis-tently. In Rome nothing else was talked of.


Traces of a very general anxiety may be found inthe Roman papers of that period. On the 13th ofJuly, 1907, an editor of the Giomale d'Italia wentto the State Secretary's office for information. Hewas received there by a functionary of that depart-ment, who for about a year past had had charge ofthe Press relations-c-Monsignore Benigni. As, inspite of all the precautions taken, certain indiscre-tions had already been committed, and a semi-officialagency or an information bureau, analogous to theWolff bureau or the Havas agency, had bcen talkcdabout, M. Benigni hastened to stop all rumours amirelieve the Vatican of responsibility by It eatcgoritaldeclaration. He said, in reply to the Italianjournalist: 'The Vatican has no Heed whatever tokeep an information bureau nor to make appoint-ments to the staff of a political newspaper. Itsaction is mainly limited to the contradiction of thefalse news which is circulated with regard to theVatican.' 1

"M. Benigni's reply was interesting, because it.perhaps imprudently, met certain questions half-way.There had been an idea at the Vatican, then, notonly of organising a semi-official agency, but also ofinspiring the more intimate and more accessiblepapers by introducing appropriate editors. Thatsentence of M. Benigni's contained a whole pro-gramme, which the Roman Prelate, indeed, onlymentioned in order to deny it vigorously ill the

1 Giomale d'Italia, July 14, 1907.


name of the State Secretariat. Proof was soonforthcoming that the Corrispondenza Romana was,in the minds of its founders, the central organ of anew system which was tending to place the HolySee in a position to act directly and continuouslyon public opinion. On the one hand, there wouldbe published daily semi-official communiques thatthe papers would reproduce; on the other hand,strenuous endeavours would be made, as M. Benigniput it so well, either 'by making appointments onthe staffs of political newspapers,' or by exerting,through the news daily given out, a methodical andopportune influence over the Rome correspondentsof foreign papers, to keep the public the whole worldover informed as to the affairs of the Vatican andthe political and religious life of the Roman Church,by presenting it on every subject and for everyevent with a semi-official version, universallycirculated and authorised, so to speak, if notauthentic ....

" He receives Italian and foreign journalists: thenovices among them are imposed upon by his com-petence and his authority, and the most experiencedare astounded at his insinuating suppleness. Heknows how to vary the form of a piece of informa-tion according to the colour of the paper which is toreceive it, or even according to the character of thecorrespondent who is to pass it on. He has meansof directly interesting the newspapers in the com-munication; he knows how their zeal should be

CAPTURINC; THE ENGLISH PRF,sS 2()9

either maintained or discouraged; and how ad-vantage may be taken of rivalries and competinginterests; he is well aware of the valne of the'exclusive confidence' by which one paper may befavoured to the detriment of the others. What arevolution to bring about in the Vatican in thecourse of a few months by the boldness and thesavoir-faire of one man alone 1 . . . M. Benigniconducts his service according to his own idea ofit; his experience alone decides the means to beemployed; whatever they may be, his consciencenever interferes; and if at times it would seem :111

appropriate moment for him to make excuses forthe liberties taken with the common moral law, heis congratulated on account of the result obtained.. . . M. Benigni's system, indeed, assumes, in orderthat it may work without risk, I will not say thecomplicity, but at least the complaisance, of a greatnumber' of Italian and even foreign papers. M.Benigni has been able to build it up, and he knowshow to keep it. He derives great advantage fromthe comparative ignorance of religious affairs of thecorrespondents and journalists, who are ordinarilymuch better acquainted with high politics than withtheology, canon law, or ecclesiastical administration.The business of the Vatican is special, complicated,difficult to understand, and still more difficult toset forth correctly. On the other hand, sources ofinformation on all that has to do with ecclesiasticalaffairs are very meagre in Rome; fantastic state-


ments appear and circulate everywhere; it is noteasy to obtain authentic news elsewhere than fromthe office of the State Secretariat. M. Benigniprofits by this double circumstance to exert a sort ofobliging tyranny over the journalists and corre-spondents. They are in danger of making a mistake-they are enlightened; they have no time to get in-formation by their own methods or to control theinformation they receive-they are informed; theirtask is simplified; they are saved from uncertaintyor embarrassment. All, be it understood, on condi-tion that they accept and reproduce without inquiryor criticism the information with which they aresupplied.

"If they decided to exercise some liberty withregard to this advantageous constraint and make achoice from the news thus supplied to them, theywould be told: 'Allor nothing; either you willpublish all our news or you will not have any.'And one can imagine that such an alternative willcause even experienced journalists to think twice.

"It is in this way that several German andFrench papers, comparatively independent, receiveand publish" influenced" and sometimes lying newsfrom Rome. It is in this way that a great Englishpaper, with a just reputation for impartiality inreligious matters, has seemed several times, in thecourse of last year and this, to adopt in its corre-spondence from Rome a very different point of viewfrom that which it ordinarily takes on questions


of religious philosophy and ecclesiastical politics.The consequences of this system may easily be seen,and also how far the action exerted by one singletelegraph agency-one might almost say by onesingle man-on European and even universal publicopinion may extend.

"A regard for truth in no way hinders theCorriepondensa Romoma: According to the needsof the cause it serves, does it affirm and deny with-out shame. 'Deny such and such statements,' saysM. Benigni to a foreign correspondent. The latterremarks that the news in question has Hot beenpublished anywhere. ' Deny it all the same,' repliesthe Roman prefect in a tone of decision ; 'I havereason to believe that if it has not yet been pub-lished, it is just going to be.' And the trick hasbeen played. How many denials elicited in thismanner have there been this last year! The Tablethas given one illustration, without, however, relatinghow several persons, who had heard with their ownears certain words of the Pope which were COD-

sidered imprudent, were imperiously requested todeclare that they had not heard them, and refused." 1

These extracts, which I have given from Gran-velle's paper in the Contemporary, not only showus the source whence Vatican news is supplied tothe English daily papers, but they also show us theworth of such news. Italian papers (unless theyare clerical) do not, as a rule, publish such news;

1 The ConlempOTaf'Y Review, December, 1908.


and if the rule laid down by Robertson of Brightonin regard to Public Libraries is at all applicable tonewspapers-that they should not supply literatureto meet the tastes of all, but to meet tastes commonto all-then I do not see why our English papersshould publish it either.

The British Protestant public complain loudly,and complain justly, of the attempt being madeby the Roman Catholic Church to capture the dailyPress, or rather of the extent to which that captur-ing has already taken place. In a paper read bythe Rev. Joseph Hocking, at the National FreeChurch Council, held at Swansea, on May 10,1909 (a paper which created a great sensation atthe time), he said :-

"First let me refer for a moment to the Press.I need not enlarge as to the power of the Press, orurge that what millions are daily accustomed toread must affect their mental outlook. Let usremember that Romanists form an insignificantportion of our population, and then consider theprominence given to Roman Catholic news, especiallyin everything that is favourable to it. Items in-significant in themselves are dressed up in the mostalluring form. Scarcely a day passes without thistaking place, while Protestant news takes a sub-sidiary place. Let Father Vaughan declare thatProtestantism is dying, and behold it is copied inalmost every newspaper. Let him go from New-castle to Plymouth, and he is fully reported. Let


Dr. Horton go to those same towns, and proclaimwhat England owes to Protestantism, and he isnot reported at all, or dismissed in half a dozenunattractive lines.

"ArchbishOop Bourne states that no less thanninety-two papers were represented at the lateEucharistic Congress; and, in the daily paperswhich I read, the story of that Congress wasgiven in terms of fulsome adulation, suggesting thatthe articles were inspired from headq uarters.

"Let Father Vaughan tell a story to an EastEnd audience, full of ridiculous nonsense, ItS wasrecently evidenced in the London newspl1pers, andhe is reported in extenso; but let some Protestantdivine, whose shoes intellectually, and from thestandpoint of scholarship, he is not worthy to stoopdown and unloose, give a Protestant lecture, andhe is unnoticed. No wonder that Father Vaughansaid to a Daily Mail reporter on June 28, 1906:'Let me tell you how deeply I am indebted to theDaily Mail and the Press generally, for thegenerous, handsome way I have been reported.'"

A short time previously, that is, on March 16,a letter appeared in the Daily News from the penof Dr. Horton, in which we read :-

"The question is, whether there is an influenceat work in the Press which quietly suppresseseverything which tells against Rome, and givesundue prominence to everything which tells inher favour. Some of us, who have watched care-

18


fully for some years, believe that there is such aninfluence."

But we have already seen that, since the appear-ance of the Corrisporzdenza Romana, and probablylong before that date, there was "an idea at theVatican . . . of inspiring the more intimate andmore accessible papers, by introducing appropriateeditors, and by making other' appointments on thestaff of political newspapers.' " That" idea" is now,I believe, a fixed part of the Vatican's policy, andthe facts and statements made by Mr. Hocking,Dr. Horton, and many others, express the outcomeof its adoption. I have had occasion already torefer to the power that often lies in the hands of aman who is second in command in any office, andso my own conviction is that the Church puts forthits "strenuous endeavours" to have its emissariesappointed to the posts of sub-editors, rather thanto those of editors-in-chief, which would be a muchmore difficult matter to secure. In any case the factis patent, that the Church, unable longer to crushthe Press, which, as we have seen, it did with aniron hand when it was in power in Italy, has nowresolved, by fair means or foul, to capture it.' I say,by foul means as well as fair, for in many cases thetrue character of those appointed-many of whom, forexample, are Jesuits-is concealed from those whoown and conduct the papers. And if they get intopositions by foul means, the work which they do is

1 See Chapter on Intellectual Deterioration, pp. 155-57.


frequently foul also. The suppressing of that whichtells against the Church of Rome, and the blazoningabroad of that which tells in its favour, is a proof ofthis. We have already seen that Roman Catholicpoliticians cannot, and do not, keep their Churchout of their office, and we may be sure that thesame thing holds of Roman Catholic journalists.Indeed, it is for the sake of their Church that mostof them have a connection with the Press at all.And in a recent issue of the Unitix Cattolica allRoman Catholic journalists were reminded that thefirst interest to he studied in their profession WIlS

that of the Church. "To that," this paper said,"every other interest must be subordinated."

And what holds of the Press, holds of periodicalpublications. The reviews of Protestant books-reviews from the pens of Roman Catholics, in ourweekly, monthly, and quarterly magazines-areoften worth nothing; for, as Dr. Horton has said,"Good books are those which favour Rome. Bookswhich criticize or oppose Rome are, ipso facto,bad." 1

In the Globe Literary Supplement of June 2,1909, there is a review of a book by David Staal's,entitled, The Soul of Women. In it occurs thefollowing defence of the Roman Catholic Church, inanswer to charges made against it by the author :--" In another chapter we should be inclined to pick aquarrel with M. Staal's over his depreciation of the

1 The Daily News, Tuesday, March 16, 1909.


Roman Catholic religion and its teaching as regardswomen. It may be true that the Catholic Churchrelegated women to a subordinate position; but is itnot true that the times during which that Churchrose to power were essentially those of brute force,those, in fact, in which the position of woman wasnecessarily subordinate? The fault, we suspect, layrather with society than with the Church; for theChurch was never, even in its most haughty andarbitrary times, able to do much to reform generalsociety. And did not the Catholic adoration of theVirgin Mary help very materially to redress thebalance of wrong, and instil into men's minds thatreverence for the physically weaker sex which advancedmedireval civilization? The knightly ideal of woman-hood sprang solely from this worship of the Virgin.We do not say that the ideal was often realized, forit was not ; but the mere fact of its existence was anelevating factor."

This extract is not a bad specimen of the tacticspursued by Roman Catholic reviewers in order toadvance the interests of their Church; and I shouldlike to say a few words about it, for to my mind itshows either that the writer knew little about hisown Church, or that he supposed his readers knewnothing of it.

He blames the times, more than the Church, forrelegating woman to a subordinate position. But,as we have seen, the Council of Trent only decidedby a majority of three that women have souls. At

OAPTURINf: THE ENGLISH PRF13S 277

the present day in every Roman Oatholic country,women are considered by the Roman Oatholic clergy,and by the clericali amongst laymen, as little morethan animals, formed for man's service and pleasure.As long as the Ohurch was in power in Italy, womenwere left completely uneducated. There was noteven a girls' school in Rome, Pope Pius IX. saying, "Itwould be a shameful thing for a girl to know howto read and write-she might write love-letters."Then, nothing could be more erroneous than thereviewer's statements about the effect of "theCatholic adoration of the Virgin Mary" in instillingreverence for woman and It "knightly ideal ofwomanhood" in the minds of men. Ho far fromthat being the case, it is exactly the "worship ofthe Virgin" in Oatholic lands that keeps women, inthe estimation of men, at the low animal level ofwhich I have spoken. A judge of the SupremeOourt in Venice told me that Mariolatry is theinfluence that first leads many young men into alife of vice. And I believe that all in Italy whohave to do with the criminal classes could confirmthe statement of my friend. Amongst RomanOatholics Mary is simply Venus, the goddess ofmaterial love. It is a curious and significant thingthat the worship of the Virgin does not find thesame favour among sisterhoods and women ingeneral. A feminine jealousy prevents it. Butamongst priests and monks, and bigoted laymen,she is their all-in-all. Her portrait is on their


walls, and I have frequently seen it in their pocket-books. When I was in Rome in 1904, at thejubilee of the "Immaculate Conception," the shopswere full of pictures and post-cards (some of whichI procured) representing the Pope kneeling before abeautifully got-up young woman, suspended beforehim in the air. The reviewer's statement that" theChurch was never, even in its most haughty andarbitrary times, able to do much to reform society"is quite true, only it requires to be supplementedthus :-but it was able to do much to corrupt society,much more so than all other agencies of Satan puttogether. Popes, priests, and monks were not onlyvicious in themselves, but were, what a young Romantold me his own uncle, Cardinal -- and many ofhis fellow-Cardinals are to-day, "fathers of vice."No indictment could be more sad, and more con-demnatory of the Church, than that of the Italiannurse at Roncegno, whose words I have alreadyquoted, when she said: "We would be religious if itwere not for the priests."

Sometimes, in their Catholic bias and animosityagainst Protestantism, reviewers overstep the mark.A gentleman in London, some few years ago, saidto me: "I saw such a vicious review of So-and-so'sbook (naming a well-known Protestant writer) that Iknew it must have been written by a Roman Catholic,and that there was something in it, so I bought itat once."

In London publishing houses the same dishonest


Roman Catholic propaganda goes on. Someyears agothere came into my hands in Venice a private circularof a London publishing house. It was addressed,without a name, to the " English Priest," and as I amoften called the "English Priest" there, it came tome. The circular concerned the prospective issue of aseries of books on eminent Italian artists, and askedfor co-operation; and as an inducement it statedthat nothing would be allowed to enter into themderogatory to the Roman Catholic Church. Well,any firm may be at liberty to publish such biographies,but no firm is justified in concealing from thepublic the suppression. For, by so doing, the booksgo out as complete histories of the men dealt with;whereas, as a fact, they may be very defective, undgive quite a wrong representation of their subjects.Almost all eminent Italians, no matter what theirline of life-poets, painters, sculptors, writers, states-men-have generally, both by word and deed, showntheir distrust of the Roman Catholic Church, andtheir hostility to it, from Dante downward.

An author whom I know, once sent to hispublishers the manuscript of a biography of a Venetianecclesiastic. As the Venetians, both priests and lay-men, were always distinguished for their patriotismand anti-clericalism, the biography told heavilyagainst the Church. The publishers gave it to areader in whom they had perfect confidence. Whenhis report came in, it surprised them; for he con-demned the book out and out, and eagerly advised


its rejection. But, like others of his class, he hadovershot his mark. The publishers knew the author,and their suspicions were aroused. The manuscriptwas given to another reader, whose report wasaltogether favourable; and the book was im-mediately put in hand. Its reception, and salewhen published, more than justified the last reader'sstatements and judgment. Inquiry was thenmade, when it was discovered that the first readerwas a Roman Catholic. Dr. Horton has said that,"even where the editor and managers of a paper areProtestant, the Roman influence finds a way todictate the treatment of a book which advocatesProtestant principles." 1 His words apply, not onlyto papers, but likewise to Protestant publishinghouses.

Again, many novels are published for the pur-pose of glorifying the Church. Cloistered life, forexample, is painted in these books in the mostglowing and attractive colours. Monasteries andnunneries, those Augean stables of material, intel-lectual, and moral unwholesomeness, are representedas the abodes of peace and sanctity. Priests, whosethoughts never rise higher than the pockets of theirvictims, and the gold they hope to find there, arerepresented as seeking only the spiritual good of someyoung wealthy heir, and being quite satisfied inhaving gained him for the priesthood, even thoughthey were baulked of their prize, since the step

1 The lJaily Neuis, March 18, 1909.


the son took caused his father to disinherit him.So disinterested and unworldly are these priests!

In many other ways, equally low and dishonestmeans are taken in the literary world by theemissaries of the Church to damage Protestantism,and to advance their own unworthy cause. Text-books used in schools are written for these purposes,especially text-books of history, which are oftenfalsified to an amazing extent. But, of course,there is no security that any subject is taughthonestly where the Church is concerned. Two all (1two do not necessarily make four ill Papal .u-it.lnnutic.Homan Catholic saints and heroes, infamous illcrime, black in character, are whitc-waehed, umlrepresented as amiable and good. It is said thatthe Church is going to canonize Mary Queen ofScots. The times were to blame, she says, for thebutcheries of the "heretics" and the outrages ontheir women wrought by the Duke of Alva and hisSpanish troops in the Netherlands; it was the faultof the times that they hanged many "upon thegallows by the feet," so that they "suffered fourand five days and nights of agony before deathcame to their relief"; that they opened the veinsof others, "and drank their blood as if it werewine," becoming intoxicated with the blood of thesaints; and that there was forbidden "to thedead all that could now be forbidden them-agrave." 1 And, I suppose, the times were to blame

1 The Ri .•e of the Duid: Republic, by Motley, pp. 36z-fi4.


also for the Christian clemency of the ProtestantPrince of Orange!

Tracts and pamphlets, good, bad, and In-

different, are being scattered broadcast by thehundred thousand throughout England. Some aresold under cost price, others are given away gratis-distributed in the street, at the doors of public hallsand churches, and even sent to certain chosenindividuals by post. They set forth falsely, butspeciously, the Apostolic origin of the Church, herunbroken continuity, and the holiness of the saints;many of whom, as has been shown, never existed,and the rest, for the most part, were, because oftheir idleness and uncleanness, simply nuisances.They dwell upon the eesthetic nature of her worship,her ornate services, her picturesque spectacles, thegorgeousness of her priestly vestments, that minglingof-

. . . "Whate'er enchants and fascinates,Music and painting, sculpture, rhetoric,And dazzling light and darkness visibleAnd architectural pomp, such as none else! " 1

The declaration is also made in these publica-tions that the Church is perfectly disinterested inher propagandism, seeking only the spiritual goodof souls, and desiring to bring them once moreinto the only fold of safety, in which their fore-fathers were, but which they have left. But onething that the writers of these tracts and pamphletsnever GO, and dare not GO, is to point to the fruits

1 Italy; The Ruman Pontilfs, by Rogers,

CAPTURING THE ENGLISH PRESS 28:3

of the Roman Catholic system as being such asto commend its acceptance; for these, consist-ing, as we have seen, of ignorance, superstition,and intellectual torpor, of sin, vice, crime, andgeneral moral turpitude, demonstrate it to be in itsorigin not from above, but from below-to be theChurch not of Christ, but of Christ's adversary.The object aimed at in all these publications, ofcourse, is to throw dust in the eyes of Protestants,to make them think favourably of this homicidalChurch, "whose high priest offers human sacrifices,"and to allure them into it, as Mr.lluskin says, "by theglitter of it, like larks into a trap by broken gIns,,,."1

Iwish, in closing this chapter. to draw attentionto another matter in regard to the Roman Catholi(~Church and the English Press, which is more seriousthan any yet referred to, and which shows what wemay expect if ever that despotic, ill-called Ohurchgets the upper hand in England, which Godgrant she never may. That matter is the attempt ithas frequently made of late to muzzle free speechand free writinz altogether, when its mischievous

'" 0interests are concerned. For example, what was thequestion asked Mr. Birrell by Mr. MacVeagh, in.May 1907, in the British House of Commons :"Oan any steps be taken to put a stop to LordAshtown's scandalous campaign " (in his publicationof Grievances from Ireland), but just such anattempt? Again, what was the action taken by the

I The Stolle.' of Venice, vol. i. Append ix l~.


police III Liverpool, in August 1\)09, III order tosuppress in the Eceninq Express, the TVeste1'nJJ£ail, and other newspapers, advertisements ofProtestant meetings in favour of the persecutedminister, the Rev. George Wise, but another suchattempt? Lastly, what was the action taken by theEnglish Censorship, backed by the Lord Lieutenantof Ireland, in mutilating lVIr. G. B. Shaw's play,The Showing up of Blanco Posnet, which appearedin Dublin, but a similar attempt to fetter free speechin the interests of the Roman Catholic Church, whichis the cause of all Ireland's crime and wretched-ness? It is not merely the tradition, impartiality.and justice, and love of fair play of the British Pressthat is in danger; it is its very liberty.

The Press is, thus, being captured and manipu-lated for the further binding of John Bull, for thetying up of his tongue, and the blinding of hiseyes, in order to a final subjugation. WAKE UP,ENGLAND1

XVI

The Roman Catholic Disabilities(Removal) Bill

" The Pope, authorized by his Councll, . . . withplenary authority, claims from every convertand member of his Church that he shall placehis loyalty and civil duty at the mercy ofanother; that other being himself."

BEFORE closing my account of the dfOlts !wiugput forth to deteriorate England, to weakenand bind John Bull, in preparation for a final

Military Conquest, I wish to mention one moreinstance of it, namely, the attempt to paRS theRoman Catholic Disabilities (Removal) Bill.

If the Roman Catholic Church were a religiousorganization such as is every other church in thecountry, whether it be Episcopalian, Presbyterian,Baptist, Congregational, Unitarian, Jewish, Greek, orMohammedan, there would be no question of remov-ing disabilities, for there would be none to remove,as there would have been no occasion to impose any;for all these churches are spiritual organization:"not political, and they exist and work, not for mun-dane, but for spiritual results. As Mr. Glac!:-tone

28b


has said in a passage I have already given at length,'they" never pretend that the State is not its ownmaster, make no religious claims to temporal posses-sions or advantages, and consequently never are inperilous collision with the State." But it is not sowith the Roman Catholic Church. As Mr. Gladstonehas further said: "She alone arrogates to herselfthe right to speak to the State, not as a subject,but as a superior; not as pleading the right of aconscience staggered by the fear of sin, but as avast Incorporation setting up a rival law againstthe State in the State's own domain, and claimingfor it, with a higher sanction, the title to similarcoercive means of enforcement." 2 And the follow-ing passage from the writings of Cardinal Manningconfirm what Mr. Gladstone has said: "The CatholicChurch cannot be silent, it cannot hold its peace; itcannot cease to preach the doctrine ... of the Infalli-bility of the Church ... and of the Sovereignty, bothspiritual and temporal, of the Holy See." 3 There-fore The Tablet, in a passage I have already quoted,says: "Neither in England nor in Ireland will theRoman Catholics obey the law, that is, the law ofthe Imperial Parliament .... The Pope's commandwill be, or rather has been and is being, carried intoeffect, the Parliamentary lie will be trampled upon,

rigorously disobeyed."

I See p. 128.2 Vaticanism, by 'r. E. Gladstone, p. 85.a The Present Crieie of the Holy See, by Manning, p. 73.

ROMAN CATHOLIC DISABILITIES (REMOVAL) BILL 287

This is the official teaching which is being givenat the present moment in all the Papal Collegesand Universities in Rome. In a text-book issuedin 1908, entitled, De Stabilitate et ProqressiiDogmatis (Concerning the Stability and Progress ofDogma), "the Author" (Father Lepicier), saysGranvelle in the Contemp01'ary Review, "drawsfrom the principle of the superiority of ecclesiasticalover civil society consequences most advantageousto the Church, and most severe on the States. Notonly does he condemn all forms of separation, Hll<]

denies the lawfulness of the system which wouldgrant to each reciprocal independence, l.ut I}(~ «laim»for the sovereign Pontiff the riflht (!( rll'1JOsinyapostate princes, and replies to theologians whohave contested that right that he himself canuot seeany way in which it can be denied, or even doubted,without compromising the integrity of the faith."In this same official text-book so recently issued, theChurch, through this eminent Professor of SacredTheology at the Propaganda College, claims in thistwentieth century the right to murder heretics.Granvelle says: "First part, Article VI., § 9 :'Whether, and in what manner, heretics are to betolerated .... If anyone makes public profession ofheresy, or tries to pervert others, by word or byexample, he ought not merely, absolutely speaking,to be excommunicated, but he may also he justlykilled, lest his contagious and dangerous exampleshould cause loss to others.'


" § 11: 'How the Church proceeds with heretics.'Two preliminary warnings, then excommunication.After which, if this method has no effect, the Churchdeli vel'Sthe heretical man to secular judgmen t, in orderthat he may be exterminated from the world bydeath. Further, it cannot be denied that the Church,absolutely speaking, has the right to put heretics todeath, even if they have come to repentance." Notonly so, but Granvelle shows, from this book, that theChurch claims the right to use" forcible means" tocompel the baptized children of Protestants to acceptRoman Catholicism: "for the Sacrament of Baptism,if they have validly received it, cannot confer uponthem the virtue of any other faith than the Catholicfaith, which is the only true one." 1

A few years ago Mr. F. H. O'Donnell, in his bookThe Ruin of Education in Ireland, drew attention tothe fact that another professor in the Vatican hadissued a work in which the same claim of the Churchto murder heretics is made. He says: "It seemssomewhat disconcerting to find the most eminentliving professor of the (Jesuit) Society, the canonistand theologian of the Gregorian University of theVatican, the learned Father Marianas de Luca, S.J.,in fact, eruditely establishing in the volumes of hislnstitutiones Juris Ecclesiastici Publici, publishedonly two years ago (1900), that, instead of beingeducated, heretics ouqht to be slaughtered, and that

I The Conienvporan; Revieic, September 1909. "Roman Imperialism,"hy Granvelle, pp. 279, 280.


the slaughtering of them is a mark of 'the perfection'of the Catholic Church!" 1 Mr. O'Donnell, in anAppendix to his book, also quotes passages from theworks of this same Professor, which show that evenat the present day the Church makes the followingclaims:-

"The Church better entitled to kill than theState."

"The State bound to kill, when ordered by theChurch."

" Not the amendment of the heretic, but IIisdeath necessary."

"Civil governments refusing to kill hCl'eLir:.'i 10be deposed and confiscated." 2

But, even more savage claims are made; as isshown by the following passage in a book on Dog-matic and Moral Theology, compiled by Prof. Vincentand his co-professors in the Seminary of Claremontin 1899:-

"The Church has received from God power toconstrain and repress those who obstinately forsakethe truth, not only by spiritual penalties, but bytemporal and corporal ones, such as confiscation ofgoods, imprisonment, beating, torture, mutilation,and death." 3

In the face of such statements and claims it is aderogation, it is a defamation of our faith, to call the

1 The Ruin of Education in Ireland, by F. H. O'Donnell, p. 173.2 Idem, Appendix, pp. 191, 193, 194.3 Theolagie Dogmatique et morale, p. 400 (Roger & Chernoviz, 7 Rile

des grands Augustin», Paris).19


Roman Catholic Church a Christian Church. AsGranvelle says: "It (the teaching of the Church)may be orthodox, but it certainly is neither humanenor Christian." No, nor can she be, for she is part ofthe world which Philip Mauro shows is Satan's; andis, what Punch called her, " a blasphemous institutionwickedly miscalled a Church, whose High Priestoffers human sacrifices." A truer definition of herwas never penned. And just because she is "a blas-phemous institution, wickedly miscalled a Church" ;and just because her "High Priest offers humansacrifices, and strews the streets with the mangledbodies of men, women, and children" who dare todiffer from him, whenever it is in his power to do so ;and just because he claims the right to do so, as wehave already seen, by the very constitution of thePapal System, as set forth in the Syllabus, and inmany Encyclicals since issued, and in the official text-books for priests and students above quoted: thereforeDisabilities Acts to restrain him and his emissariesare in force in every country in Europe in whichthe Roman Catholic Church has a footing. That isthe explanation of their existence in France, Spain,Germany, Austria, and Italy, and that is why theywere originally framed and put on the Statute-Book ofEngland; and why-whilst, unfortunately for Englishliberties, too many of them have been erased-it is soearnestly sought to retain those still remaining.

It cannot be too clearly or too frequentlyasserted that, probably in no country in the world,


and most certainly not in England, do such Actstouch the question of religion. They have neverbeen enacted to force the conscience of a single soul,or to dictate It certain line of religious belief. Theyhave been passed solely on moral and politicalgrounds, in order to safeguard the rights and libertiesof the individual and the family, of society, and ofthe State, against the most inhuman and debasingof all tyrannies that have ever afflicted mankind-that of a dominant Roman Catholic Church.

In support of this view I here give It shortquotation from Mr. Lecky. He Hays: "Olle ofthe facts which have been HJOst pniufully horneupon the minds of the more careful thinkers 1I1Id

students of the present generation is, how muchstronger than our fathers imagined were the reasonswhich led former legislators to impose restrictivelegislation on Catholicism. Measures of theReformation period which, as lately as the days ofHallam, were regarded by the most enlightenedhistorians as simple persecution, are now seen tohave been in a large degree measures of necessaryself-defence, or inevitable incidents in a civil war.As a matter of strict right, a Church which is in itsown nature, in principle, and in practice, persecut-ing wherever it has the power, cannot, like otherreligions, claim toleration." 1

But we must remember that there are otherDisabilities than those imposed by the State upon

1 Democracy and Liberty, by W. E. II. Leek)', vol, ii. pp. 29,30.


the Church, there are those which the RomanCatholic Church constantly seeks to impose uponthe State. State rights and Church claims arcantagonistic; so that if the State does not restrainthe Church, it must submit to be restrained by her.Both cannot exist as free powers together. UnaChiesa libera in libero Stato (a free Church in afree itltate), where the Church is a Roman Catholicone, is, as Italy proved to her cost, an impossibility.As we have seen, Italy, starting on her career in1870 by giving the Church a free hand, had, inself-defence, in 1890, by the passing of the NewPenal Code, to place the Church in the categoryof criminal institutions. Where the Papal Churchis in question, there must either be a disabled Stateor a disabled Church. The Roman Catholic Churchsays, through the Syllabus of Pius IX., which I havealready given,! and through the Encyclicals of thatsame Pontiff and of Leo XIII., that the State has norights whatever in face of the Church; it has noright. to tolerate any form of religion but her own;it has no right to forbid the Church using force incarrying out her decrees; it has no right to excludethe Pope and the clergy from the absolute controlof temporal affairs; it has no right to abolishEcclesiastical Courts; it has no right to overrideby its own laws, ecclesiastical laws; it has no rightto determine the kind of teaching given in publicschools; it has no right to establish professional

J See pp. 135-137.


chairs of philosophy or law; it has no right toinspect monastic institutions; it has no right toabolish them; it has no right to sanction marriage,it has no right to sanction divorce; and, accordingto Cardinal Manning, it has no right to place onthe throne a sovereign who is not a Roman Catholic,for he says, "If an heretical prince is elected, orsucceeds to the throne, the Church has a right tosay, 'I annul the election, or I forbid the succes-sion.' " 1

These are but a few of the Disabilities Acts onthe Statute-Book of the Roman C:ttholi(~ Church,and yet, in face of such, one is inclined to askwhat rights are left to the Htat~~ n.L all 'I 'J'II(~answer, of course, is, none. The State is nbsorlx«],is annihilated. That is what the Church herselfasserts. Here are the words from the lips of twoof her representative men, Father Martin, S.J., andthe late Cardinal Vaughan, as given by Mr. Glad-stone. The former said: "The Church is a societycomplete and perfect in and by itself, and amplysufficing, not only to bring men to salvation andeverlasting bliss, but also to establish and perfectlyregulate social life among them"; and the lattersaid: "The Church has been created a perfectsociety or kingdom, with full authority in thetriple order, as needful for a perfect kingdom,legislative, judicial, and coercive." 2

1 Essnys, by Cardinal Manning, p. 458.2 Vaticaniem; by 'V. E. GlatbtollC, p. 76.


Perhaps the Church has a right to claim all this,because being Satan's greatest tour d'adresse, as Dr.Arnold has called her; being an organization foundedby Satan, sustained by him, working for him, andworshipping him, it is no more than she believes hepromised to all those who would thus devote them-selves to him, when, taking our Lord "up into anexceeding high mountain and showing Him all thekingdoms of the world and the glory of them," hesaid unto Him: "All these things will I give Thee,if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." 1 But whatthe Roman Catholic Church has no right to do, isto complain if individuals and nations take up herown weapons-Disabilities Acts-and, with thesein their hands, like the Jews of old against theirenemies in the provinces of King Ahasuerus, "makea stand for their lives."

And yet this is the very thing the Church isdoing at the present moment. In the British Houseof Commons we have the Roman Catholic members-all of them the agents of the Church, and not a fewof those from Ireland her paid agents-crying outagainst the few Disabilities Acts that still stand uponour Statute-Book, and demanding their erasure. Theircomplaint against these Acts is really, to use thesimile of Mr. Gladstone, "the complaint of thefoeman scaling the walls, against the sentry whogives the alarm." 2

1Matthew iv. 8, 9.I Vaticanism, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 118.

ROMAN OATHOLIC DISABILITIES (REMOVAL) BILL 295

That the Roman Catholic Ohurch would put intoforce to-morrow, if she could, throughout England,everyone of her preposterous claims, does not admitof the shadow of a doubt. Our history, previous tothe reign of King Henry VIII., and again during thereign of the Stuarts, until there came the gloriousRevolution of 1688, makes that clear. And thehistory of Italy confirms this belief. Italy callsupon us to take note that not one claim of theChurch was ever permitted to fall to the ground, solong as she had the power to enforce it, which in thePapal States was down to 1860, and in Rome forten years longer, to 1870, when that city became theCapital of Italy.

We have already seen how the Ohurch toleratedno form of worship but her own; how the EnglishServices had to be held under police supervision in anon-ecclesiastical building, outside the walls of Rome;and how the Scottish Services were conducted insecret in the city itself. In regard to this intoleranceI find de Oesare saying: " Il Papa non permisemai la costruzione di un tempio protestante inRoma. Uno solo era confinato fuori Porta delPopolo, a sinistra uscendo, in uno speciedi granaio." 1

(The Pope would never permit the erection of a Pro-testant temple. The only one permitted was outsidethe Porta del Popolo, to the left going out, in a sortof barn.)

The Church adopted measures to force everyone1 1lIJma e to Stata del Papa, by de Cesare, vol, i. p. 128.


in Italy to acknowledge her to be the only trueChurch; a sure sign that she knew she was nothingof the kind, for truth needs no force to sustain it.The senator Carlo Tivaroni tells us what these were;and I have often had his words confirmed from thelips of my Italian friends. She commanded all tocommunicate at Easter. After the service thosepresent received a ticket from the priest at the altarcertifying that the bearer had done so. Then, sometime after Easter, the priests went from house tohouse, with a list of the occupants of each in theirhands, to collect these tickets. Anyone who had noticket was proved thereby not to have communicated,and was apprehended and punished.' Of course,this piece of tyranny did not succeed; and I knowwhy, for that too has often been told me by Italians.A gentleman in Venice, once at the head of theCustoms, told me he never communicated, and neverwould, nor did anyone under him in his offices.There are thirty parishes in Venice, and as Easterapproached, the Custom-House porters made theround of them, confessing and communicating inevery church, and so each gained thirty certificates.These they sold to those who would not com-municate, thus earning their Easter dinner in aneasier way than unloading ships and waggons. Myfriend bought his ticket for twenty years!

The Church, acting on another of her claims, usedforce in carrying out her decrees, and this with a

1 L'Italia degli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. i. p. 168.


vengeance. Anyone was liable to be arrested at thenod of a priest, and thrown into some foul dungeon, tolie there "till the truth came out," or "as a pre-cautionary measure." Luigi Carlo Farini, in a letterto Mr. Gladstone, gives the following statistics ofthe prisons in the Roman State. In 1850 therewere 10,436 persons in them; in 1851 there were11,279; in 1853 there were 12,035; and in 1854the number rose to 13,006. It happened more thanonce that the Papal Government had not gaolsenough in which to confine their prisoners, norropes wherewith to hang them, hence they wereforced to send them to the hulks, or to shoot themin batches.'

The claim of the Church to have EcclesiasticalCourts, and Immunity of the Clergy, was fullygratified; for there were no other Courts, and nojudges but priests, if judges they could be called, forthey knew little of law, whether Divine or human,and cared for it less. They always conducted theircases with closed doors, drugging their prisonerswith belladonna, and condemning them without anyregard to justice or right. And all this in the nameof Christ, whose figure on a cross hung above thejudge's head, to show, I suppose, that daily they did" crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and putHim to an open shame." 2 There was not only Im-munity of Clergy, but Immunity for any scoundrel in

1 L'Italia ckgli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. i. p. 137.2 Hebrew. vi. 6.


the land who put himself under their protection, andthey were ever ready to protect everyone for money.Massimo d'Azeglio, speaking from personal know-ledge, tells us that "those who committed crimeshad but to throw themselves on the doorstep of achurch or a chapel, and they were safe. Theirfriends brought them food, and they passed thewhole day long with their arms folded, or doingsome work within the confines of their sanctuary(even at times serving the mass, as I have beenoften told). . . . These refugees, as can easily beunderstood, passed sometimes months and months inidleness, gambling and quarrelling among them-selves (feeling as secure as in a prison), and mutuallycorrupting themselves more and more." 1 AgainMassimo d'Azeglio says: "There is in Romagna ageneration of men, vile, obscure, accustomed to idle-ness, to debauchery, to tavern rows, who acclaimthemselves as devoted to the Pope, to his govern-ment, to faith, to religion; and with this boast theyconsider themselves exempt from all restraint andfrom every law; they esteem lawful all kinds ofviolence (perhaps they esteem it meritorious) so longas it is against men who profess other opinions thantheirs, which is, as all see, the same as saying,against anyone who may be odious to them, or whoare their enemies." 2

Marriage, in satisfaction of another claim of the

1I Mid Ricordi, by Massimo d'Azeglio, p. 349.s IOasi di Romagna, by Massimo d'Azeglio, p. 53.


Church, was completely in her hands, and de Cesaretens us that this gave rise to frequent cases of in-tolerance. Of this he gives many examples, such asthe following. The Oount Ferdinando FrenfanelliCibo, one of the Pope's noble guards, having marrieda rich American, had to quit Rome, and was notpermitted to return to his post until his wife becamea Oatholic. Prince Emanuele Ruspoli was onlypermitted to re-enter Rome after the death of hisfirst wife; and his brother Paolo, who married aProtestant, Miss York, only returned to Italy whenthe times were changed. Their beautiful Rister,Francesca, who married Nicola Kisseleff, the RussinnMinister, had to fly from Rome. When the DukeMarino Torlonia spoke to Pius IX. on the matter, thePope replied: "This is not a marriage, it is con-cubinage." 1

Monasteries and nunneries abounded in thePapal States, and were, what they always be-come sooner or later in every land, dens of viceand centres of corruption. They were immenselywealthy. When, in 1855, the Bill for their suppres-sion in Piedmont was passing through Parliament,Monsignor Calabianca, "in the name of the Episco-pate, and authorized by the Vatican, offered the sumof 928,000 francs (£37,120) to the Government todrop the project." 2

The claim of the Church to have the exclusive

1Roma e 10 Stato del Papa, by de Cesare, vol. i. p. 298.t Idem, vol. i. P: 239.


control of Education was also enforced. Universities,colleges, and public and private schools were entirelyin her hands. At the basis of all teaching lay theCatholic faith. Scholars and students had to breathein the classrooms, what is called in the Papal schoolsin England, "a Catholic atmosphere." Boys to beadmitted to a school at all (there were no schools forgirls, or very few), and students to a university, hadto bring with them certificates of good conduct fromtheir respective parish priests, and from the police;good conduct meaning regular attendance at Mass,confession, communion, and other Church ceremonies,and also of docile subjection to ecclesiastical authority.Similar certificates had to be handed in when scholarsand students presented themselves for examination.'Professors and teachers were all priests, and it wasobligatory on all students who had taken a degree towear the priestly dress, because, as de Cesare says:"It had always to be affirmed and shown that know-ledge did not exist excepting under the biretta." 2 Inthe chief university-that called Sapienza-in Rome,the salary of a professor was 165 lire a month, thatis, the princely sum of £6 12s. Schoolmasters werepaid proportionately. Perhaps it was enough for allthey did, for the time they worked, and the kind ofeducation they gave.

I do not think that the teaching days in theyear exceeded a hundred; for schools and colleges

1 L'Italia rkgli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. i, pp.1l7, 215.2 Roma e lo Stato Ikl Papa, by de Cesare, vol. ii, pp. 19, 20.


were all closed on the festival days of the Church,in accordance with her rendering of the fourth com-mandment, which she has altered thus: "Rememberthe festivals, to sanctify them "-the Sabbath noteven being referred to; not only so, but, asTivaroni says, on every half-festival the schoolswere closed. Thursday was always a holiday.Then there were the vacations in October and atChristmas; then the spiritual exercises to be gonethrough in Holy Week, and at Easter, and Pentecost;then the novenas of St. Peter, of the Epiphany, ofSt. Joseph, of the Ferragosto; and lastly, the (lays onwhich snow fell, "because, as everybody knows, t-H!OW

ought to bring a holiday." 1 Of the character of theeducation given I have already spoken in a formerchapter; but I desire here to say that the best com-mentary thereon is supplied by the report of the RoyalCommission appointed by the Italian Government in1870, to examine and classify the boys of the Papalschools in Rome, and which I have translated inanother place," The President of the Commission,the Senator Brioschi, tells that the ignorance ofthe boys on all subjects was simply appalling." Young lads of fifteen, sixteen, and even eighteenyears of age, did not know the parts of speech northe conjugation of the verbs. . . .

"Of their knowledge of geography and history,it is better not to speak at all. The point to which

1 L'Italia degli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. i. pp. 168, 169.2 The Roman Catholic Church in Italy, p. 263 (Morgan & Scott).


the ignorance of the young men in Rome reachedin these things is simply incredible. Asked aboutgeography, some did not know even the meaning ofthe word. Others, after they had assured me thatthey had studied the subject for one or two years,told me that the Adriatic was a mountain, thatSardinia was a city, and that Milan was the capitalof Sicily. Very many did not know the populationof Italy; many thought the name of the Peninsulawas that of a city; and there were even those whosaid to me that if they were not able to answer meI ought to consider that they were Romans, and notItalians. Asking, then, the pupils regarding thechief events in Italian history, there were none, withone or two rare exceptions, who could answer. Oneanswered that Brutus was a tyrant, others that Dantewas a French poet, others that Petrarch was one ofour celebrated poetesses. Regarding Columbus,onetold me that he was an Apostle, and another said hewas the Holy Spirit! "

The report ends by saying that it was impossibleto classify the boys according to their attainments,

.for they had none; so the classification had to bedone by grace. Clerical education, everywhere andalways, is "not light, but rather darkness visible."

I would remind the reader here of what I havesaid in a former chapter,' about the laws of theChurch in regard to physicians and sick and dyingpersons; how a sick person could not see a physician

1Chapter v. pp. 76, 77.

RO),IAN CATHOLIC DISABILITIES (REMOVAL) BILL 303

till he had seen a priest. and how. if within threedays he did not confess. the physician was bound byan oath to throw up the case. under pain of losinghis right to practise. and of even being expelled fromthe medical faculty; and how no will was valid thatdid not contain a legacy for the Church. I mentionthese things here again as examples of the despoticclaims made and enforced by the Church in Italywhen she was in power, and to these I might addmany others, for there was no claim too arbitrary ortoo absurd for her to make and enforce. However,I content myself by adding but one more. Duringthe Risorgimento the Papal Government compelledmen to shave, and forbade them to wear broad-brimmed hats. Those disobeying were liable to beapprehended, imprisoned. and bastinadoed. In thediary of Pier Francesco Leopardi, we read: "To-day(March 13, 1850), after fifteen years that I have wornit, I have cut off my moustache to comply with thewish of the Pontifical Government, which desires tosee this unpleasing sign of revolt removed from itsgovernmental and communal employes." 1 But whatit compelled its employes to do, it compelled othersto do. Luigi Carlo Farini says that the policeagents of the Pope "strappa1Jono ai eittadini ipelidal mento e dal labro superiore" (tore off the hairfrom the chins and upper lips of the citizens). 2

Massimo d'Azeglio, Giuseppe Pasolini, and Carlo1PrOll 11 Pout. ItIJliafl6, by Luigi Morandi. p. 358.I Lo Stato Romano. by L. C. Farini, vol. i, p. 73.


'I'ivaroni all speak of this barbarism. The latterwriter says: "Frequently the gendarmes, or moretruly the sbirro, took by force into barbers' shops thepeople they met in the streets with too full-grownbeards, and had them shaved .... People arrestedfor wearing long beards and hats with broad brimswere brought for judgment before 'the commissionof sticks,' and the bishops themselves had them im-prisoned or bastinadoed.' An American consul atNaples had to invoke his consular rights to savehimself from being forcibly shaved.

Now Italy calls upon us to take note that notonly would all these claims be made in England bythe Church, once it were free to do so, for theyenter into her very constitution (if we except the oneabout shaving and broad-brimmed hats, perhaps), butthat she would enforce them by violence just as shedid in Italy. She would use in England the same" arguments" she has used without hesitation in alllands and at all times, namely, the prison, the lash,torture, exile, the gallows, the sword, the gun, therope, and the stake. The history of the Netherlands,of South America, of our own land, show us that. Iknow it is said that the use of these "arguments"belonged to the times, but it is not true. For inthese very countries they were always shunned andabhorred by Protestants and liberals when engagedin war with the Church; and, if resorted to by anyof their number, even in direst extremity, they were

I L'Italia degli Italiani, by Carlo Tivaroni, vol. i. pp. 139,24].


unhesitatingly condemned. On the other hand, theyare of the very essence of the Papacy, and so theyare written in letters of fire and blood on the pagesof the history of every country that has been scourgedand tormented by having had it as a ruling power inits midst. And the employment of these "argu-ments" comes down the centuries to our own day.They only ceased in Italy in 1870; and, within thewalls of the Vatican, I am not at all sure that theyhave even yet ceased to be used against persoas whostand too much in the Church's way. Whilst tocome nearer home, the threats of the hooligan priestsand their followers in London on the occasion of theEucharistic Procession; the acts of violence com-mitted by the same class of Papists at Motherwelland Hamilton in June 1909; the outrages com-mitted on Protestants and their properties at Belfast,Portadown, Liverpool, and other places on July 12,1909 (the anniversary of the putting down by WilliamIII. of the rebellion headed by the deposed traitor,James II.); the incessant persecution of Protestantsthroughout Ireland, as at Drogheda, where not un-frequently a simple Protestant mission cannot beheld, excepting under police protection; and at Cork,where Dr. Long was the object for months of almostdaily insults and outrages; 1 the threats which wehear are constantly made by Papal Irish fanatics, thatonce they get the power, which they hope HomeRule will bring them, "they will drive all Protestants

1Belfa.t Newl Letter, May 2, 1907.20


into the sea"; fulfilling Dr. T. Macguire's wordsuttered long ago when he said: "Home Rule meansboycotting and massacre of the loyalists" 1_allthese things tell us plainly that the" arguments" Ihave spoken of would be used to-morrow by the PapalChurch against the Protestants of Great Britain andIreland had she but the power.

And it is to help the Church to the possession ofthis power that her agents in Parliament are pro-moting the Roman Catholic Disabilities (Removal)Bill. By that Bill it is proposed to "remove" alllaws "disabling" the Jesuits and other ReligiousOrders from residing, and from "taking and acquir-ing" (they are very good at that) real property inthe United Kingdom; it is proposed to remove alllaws disabling Roman Catholics from occupying theofficesofLord High Chancellor, Lord Keeperof the GreatSeal, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland-offices whoseoccupants are direct representatives of the King;and, above all, it is proposed to remove all words inthe Royal Declaration and the Coronation Oath thatprevent a disguised Roman Catholic Sovereign, suchas were Charles II. and James II., from occupying thethrone. The Coronation Oath, by the taking of whichthe Sovereign swears to "maintain the laws of God,the true profession of the Gospel, and the ReformedReligion, established by law," does not of itself effectthis; besides which, the Church of England mightbe disestablished to-morrow, when it would become

1 England's Duty to Ireland, by Thomas Macguire, LIJ.D., p. 8.


meaningless. In Scotland we say, "It taks a lang-handled spyn to sup wi' the Deil"; and our fore-fathers, when they were treating with the RomanCatholic Church, knew that they were treating withhis Satanic Majesty, and so at the Revolution Settle-ment, in 1688, they framed the Royal Declaration, tobe sworn to also by the Sovereign, and which, in theopinion even of the unprincipled Jesuit, does safe-guard the throne. I t runs as follows:-

"I (Edward VII.) do solemnly and sincerely, inthe presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, thatI do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord'sSupper there is not any Transubstantiation of theElements of Bread and Wine into the Body andBlood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereofby any person whatsoever; and that the Invocationor Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint,and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now usedin the Church of Rome, are superstitious andidolatrous. And I do solemnly, in the presence ofGod, profess, testify, and declare, that I do makethis declaration and every part thereof in the plainand ordinary sense of the words read unto me,as they are commonly understood by EnglishProtestants, without any Evasion, Equivocation, ormental Reservation whatsoever, and without anydispensation already granted me for this purpose bythe Pope, or any other authority or person whatso-ever, or without any hope of any such dispensationfrom any person or authority whatsoever, or without


thinking that I am or can be acquitted before Godor man, or absolved of this declaration or any partthereof, although the Pope or any other person orpersons or power whatsoever should dispense with orannul the same, or declare that it was null and voidfrom the beginning." 1

That which is proposed to be done by the passingof the Roman Catholic Disabilities (Removal) Bill isso to weaken these safeguards, through the mutilationof the above Royal Declaration, as to render themof no effect. It is proposed to omit the first half ofthe Declaration altogether; that is to say, to cancelall the words from" do solemnly and sincerely" downto "superstitious and idolatrous" inclusive, and tosubstitute for them the words of the CoronationOath. If this were done, then the Declaration couldbe made by any sovereign, Protestant or Papal, andso the way would be cleared for the placing of aRoman Catholic upon the throne; for the stampingout of our civil and religious liberties; for the re-introduction of Bishops' Courts and prisons, soardently desired; for the setting up, in fact, of theInquisition, and for the re-lighting once more of thefires of Smithfield.

I am perfectly well aware that those in favour ofthis Bill, emphatically, and even passionately, assertthat they have no design upon the throne. Nothing,they affirm, is farther from their thoughts than todisturb the Protestant Succession. But we must set

1Act of Settlement, 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2.


against their averments, however vehemently made,the following considerations :-

(a) Many, if not all, of those who are taking aleading part in promoting this Bill in Parliament,and in advocating its claims before the public, aremembers of such societies as The White RoseLeague, The Royalist League, The LegitimistJacobite League, The Forget-me-not Royalist Club,and similar societies, everyone of which existsfor the very purpose of ousting our ProtestantHanoverian Dynasty, and of reinstating the PapalStuart line, in the person of a foreign princess, whomthey speak of as Queen Mary III. On.J anuary 30,1909, the anniversary of the execution of Charles 1.

"as a tyrant, a murderer, and a traitor to thiscountry," members of these same societies, andpromoters of this Bill, laid floral tributes on hisstatue at Whitehall, with such words as : "Dedicatedto the immortal memory of King Charles, who wasbeheaded by Cromwellian Traitors." Many bore thesignificant, threatening word, picked out in blood-redflowers-REMEMBER.

(b) The promoters of former Roman CatholicDisabilities (Removal) Bills, such as those of 1792,when there was removed from the Statute-Book thelaw forbidding Roman Catholics to vote; of 1829,when there was removed that which forbade themsitting in Parliament; and of 1846, when there wasremoved that which forbade the entrance of Papalbulls into the kingdom, all solemnly swore that each


concession would be the last to be sought, thateach and all were to be "final settlements"; and thatthe Roman Catholic Church would for ever after-wards avoid political matters, and in each case (as wehave already seen in that of 1829) the oaths andpromises were deliberately broken.

(c) Cardinal Newman, replying to Mr. Gladstone'scomplaint "that the English and Irish penal lawsagainst Roman Catholics were repealed on the faithof assurances, which have not been fulfilled," said:" No pledge from Catholics was of any value towhich Rome was not a party." And Mr. Gladstone,as we have had occasion already to note, exclaimed:"Statesmen of the future recollect the words, andrecollect from whom they came: from the man who,so declares a Romish organ (The Month), has been themind and tongue to shape and express the EnglishCatholic position in the many controversies whichhave arisen." 1

(d) Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church inGreat Britain and Ireland from the year 1851,when The Roman Catholic Defence Association wasinaugurated in the Rotunda in Dublin, down to thepresent time, have distinctly avowed that the fixedaim and object of their Church is to destroy theProtestant Succession. At the inauguration abovereferred to, Dr. Cullen, Primate of all Ireland, was inthe chair, or rather on the throne; for, as he wasPapal Legate for the occasion, he sat in regal state.

1 V'Jticanism, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 39.


In his speech Dr. Cullen said that the object of theAssociation was "to root out every law and everyadministrative practice which interferes with theperfect freedom of the Church"; and after enumerat-ing several of these obstacles he concluded bysingling out for special attack "The CoronationOath and the Act of Settlement, which limit," hesaid, "the possession of the Crown to Protestants." 1

The present Disabilities (Removal) Bill is part ofthe 1851 Rotunda programme. Then we find thatCardinal Manning deliberately said that the onlyobstacles which barred the way to the Crown ofEngland being "re-united to Christendom by sub-mission to the living authority of the Vicar of JesusChrist," are the Acts of William III., the very Actswhich it was proposed to render null and void, byDr. Cullen in 1851, and again at the present timeby this Disabilities (Removal) Bill. Besides, as wehave already noted, Cardinal Manning asserted that" If an heretical prince is elected or succeeds to thethrone, the Church has a right to say, 'I annul theelection, or I forbid the succession.' " 2

(e) The history of almost every countryabounds in instances of Popes, Cardinals, Sover-eigns, princes, statesmen, generals, priests, in factof Roman Catholics of every grade, clerical and lay,perjuring themselves in the most atrocious manner

1 Which SlYVereign,Queen Victoria or the Pope ~ by Dr. Wylie, pp.180, 231.

2 Es.~ays, by Cardinal Manning, p. 18.


in their dealings with Protestants. I do not knowone solitary instance of a Roman Catholic respectinghis promise or oath made to a Protestant, when theinterests of his Church demanded that it should bebroken. "Is the word of a king," said Catherinede Medici to the Huguenots who were insisting ona better guarantee-" is the word of a king notsufficient?" "No, Madam," was the reply"-bySt. Bartholomew, no !" 1

In face of such facts it would not only be foolish,it would be criminal, it would be treason to England,to put the slightest trust in anything said byRoman Catholics, even though they may be speakingsincerely, in regard to their having no designs uponour Protestant Constitution, our Protestant Throne,and our Protestant liberties.

The goal hoped ultimately to be reached by thepassing of the present Roman Catholic Disabilities(Removal) Bill IS THE THRONE-IS THEBRINGINGINOF A ROMANCATHOLICSOVERElGN. It is anotherforward step in the deterioration of England, pre-paratory to a final Military Conquest; and to thesetting of the Pope, once more, on John Bull's head.WAREUP, ENGLAND!

1 The Rise of the Dutck Republic, by Motley, p. 38B.

XVII

The Military Invasion

"Such as do build their fa/th uponThe holy text of pike and gun;Decide a11 controversies byInfallJble artJIlery;And prove their doctrine orthodoxBy ApostolJc blows and knocks;Ca11fire, and sword, and desotsttonA godly, thorough reformation."

-BUTLER. Hudibraa.

SOME few years ago, here in Venice, I had muchpleasant intercourse with Dr. Andrew D. Whiteof Cornell University, and late Ambassador

at Berlin of the United States of America. Speakingtogether one day of the Hague Conference of 1899,at which he sat as President of the American Delega-tion, he told me the following incident. The Con-ference had finished its work, and he was biddingfarewell to the" House in the Wood," when he foundat its door, in a towering passion, a leading RomanCatholic diplomat who represented one of the greatCatholic Powers. Dr. White said to him: "Stepinto my carriage, and drive home with me to dinnerand unburden your mind." He did so. The causeof his wrath was as follows :-

818


When the Conference was being arranged for, thePope claimed, as the world knows, to be representedat it, not only as a temporal sovereign, but as theworld's great peace-maker, the representative on earthof the Prince of Peace. He moved heaven and earthto enforce his claim; but of course it was rejectedwithout discussion, as the very idea of such a thingwas out of the question. Had it been entertained,Italy would have refused to enter the Conference,and England, and probably other powers, would havedone the same; hence the Conference would necessarilyhave been given up. However, at the closing meet-ing of the Conference, as Dr. White said, "to theamazement of all, and almost to the stupefactionof many," M. de Staal, the representative of theNetherlands, handed a paper to the Secretary toread. It turned out to be a letter from his Queento the Pope, in which she indicated that it wasnot the fault of her Government that he was notrepresented at the Conference. The paper alsocontained the Pope's reply, in which he magnifiedhis office as the world's peace-maker, and reiteratedhis incontestable right as such to be represented.It was the Pope's letter with its mendacious state-ments and preposterous claims that roused theanger of this Roman Catholic Delegate, who, onceseated in the carriage, delivered himself as follows(and now I am quoting, not from memory, butfrom Dr. White's Autobiography which he has justsent me):-

THE MILITARY INVASION 315

"The Vatican has always been, and is to-day, astorm-centre. The Pope and his advisers have neverhesitated to urge on war, no matter how bloody,when the slightest of their ordinary worldly purposescould be served by it. The great religious wars ofEurope were entirely stirred up and egged on bythem; and, as everybody knows, the Pope did every-thing to prevent the signing of the treaty of Munster,which put an end to the dreadful Thirty Years' War,even going so far as to declare the oaths taken by theplenipotentiaries at that Congress of no effect. Allthrough the Middle Ages and at the Renaissanceperiod the Popes kept Italy in turmoil and bloodshedfor their own family and territorial advantages, andthey kept all Europe in turmoil for two centuriesafter the Reformation-in fact, just as long as theycould-in the wars of religion. They did everythingthey could to stir up the war between Austria andPrussia in 1866, thinking that Austria, a Catholicpower, was sure to win; and then everything possibleto stir up the war of France against Prussia in 1870,in order to accomplish the same purpose of checkingGerman Protestantism; and now they are doing allthey can to arouse hatred, even to deluge Italy inblood, in the vain attempt to recover the TemporalPower, though they must know that they could nothold it for any length of time even if they shouldobtain it. . . . Their whole policy is based on stir-ring up hatred and promoting conflicts from whichthey hope to draw worldly advantage. In view of


all this, one stands amazed at the cool statements ofthe Vatican letter." 1

That is the indictment of one whom Dr. Whitecalls "an eminent Roman Catholic representativeof a Roman Catholic Power." And what a sweepingcondemnatory indictment it is ! In face of it, comingfrom the burning heart and lips of such a man, onefeels that it is impiety or culpable ignorance to talk,as so many do, of the Pope being the Vicar of thePrince of Peace, and of the Roman Catholic Churchas having a mission of peace and of goodwill tomankind. He is, on the contrary, the Vicar of Christ'sAdversary, "The Prince of this ·WorId " ; 2 he is the"Beast" of the Revelation, to whom the" Dragon"gave" his power, and his seat, and great authority... to make war with the saints." 3

It will be noticed that this "eminent Catholicrepresentative of a Roman Catholic Power" in hissweeping indictment says: "And now they aredoing all they can to arouse hatred, even to delugeItaly in blood, in the vain attempt to recover theTemporal Power." That was the Godlike work inwhich the so-called" Vicar of the Prince of Peace"was engaged whilst the Hague Peace Conferencewas sitting in 1899; that was the Godlike work inwhich the so-called "Vicar of the Prince of Peace"has been engaged during the ten years that have

1 Autobiography of Dr. Andrew D. White, vol. ii. pp. 349-351.2 John xii. 31, xiv, 30.S Rev. xiii. 2, 7.


elapsed since then; and that is the Godlike work inwhich the so-called "Vicar of the Prince of Peace"is engaged at the present time! Italy knows this toher cost; and it has often been brought forward inParliament and in the Press, both native and foreign,by Italian writers. Ruggiero Bonghi wrote, in 1894,in the Nuova Antologia-and his words are equallytrue to-day-" The war is conducted by the Papacy;and since its commencement twenty-three years ago(now thirty-nine) it does not seem to decrease invigour, and in precision of aim. . . . The Popecontinues to fight fiercely to recover the TemporalPower." 1 The Honourable Francesco Crispi said, in1892: "To-day he (the Pope) conspires; to-morrow,as king, he would openly treat with our enemies tothe detriment of our national unity." I>. Mr. Gladstoneagain and again refers to it; and I have alreadyquoted him as saying: "She (Italy) is the countrywhose very heart it is the fixed desire and design ofthe Roman Curia to tear out of its bleeding body,for the purpose of erecting anew the fabric of theTemporal Power now crumbled in the dust"; 3 andagain, as saying: "that there is a fixed purposeamong the secret inspirers of Roman policy topursue, by the road of force, upon the arrival of anyfavourable opportunity, the favourite project of re-erecting the terrestrial throne of the Popedom, even

1Nuova Antologia, January 1894.S The New Review, May 1892.8 Gleanings of Past Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol. vi. p. 202.


if it can only be re-erected on the ashes of the city,and amidst the whitening bones of the people." 1

Again Mr. Gladstone speaks of "the venomousambition of Curialism, determined to try another fallbefore renouncing its dream of temporal dominion," 2

and Cardinal Manning, who incarnated the policy ofthe Vatican, fully confirms Mr. Gladstone's state-ments, for he declared to the late Rev. Hugh PriceHughes that he (the Pope) was willing to delugeEurope in blood, if thereby he could destroy thekingdom of Italy, and restore the Temporal Power."

Mr. Gladstone's" favourable opportunity" is, inthe estimation of the Pope and the Church, at lastfast approaching. The great prize, which they havekept steadily before their eyes ever since 1870, andto which everything else has been subordinated, andmade subservient, is almost, they think, within theirgrasp. The Italian cartoon on this subject, repro-duced overleaf, represents the Pope welcoming theEmperor Francis Joseph and his invading army,with the words: "Come on! come on, my sons!for thirty-nine years we have waited for you inRome." Another cartoon which I possess repre-sents Rome as a luscious pear, hanging high up inthe air, and the Pope climbing a ladder, held bythe Emperor Francis Joseph, in the hope of pluck-ing it. It is still, however, beyond his reach.

1 The Vatican Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, p. 50.2 Gleanings of Past Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol. vi. p. 201.3 Methodist Times, August 6, 1896.


Yet in this fixed determination of reaching it, wecome upon the crowning reason, the impelling cause,for the Conquest of England. It is not the onlyreason, the only impelling cause, for, as we havealready seen (Ohapter II.), there are others. Theywant John Bull's gold. They want to regain ameasure of prestige in the world, and they want toput down what they call heresy.

England, then, is recognized as the great obstacleto the recovery of the Temporal Power. So long asEngland holds its place of intellectual, moral, andmaterial supremacy among the nations, the recoveryof the Temporal Power is an impossibility. There-fore England must be humiliated, must be subdued.And to effect this the thousands and tens of thousandsof the myrmidons of the Ohurch, now scatteredthroughout the land, are not enough. These areworking, as we have seen, to weaken, and deteriorate,and degenerate John Bull; but that is only prepara-tory work. They are but the sappers and minerssent in advance of a great army of another kind,which the Pope and the Ohurch hope soon to landon our shores. That army of another kind is anarmy of soldiers, by whom, in co-operation withthe enemy already in the field, and profiting byits work, the war will be fought out to a finish.As Mr. Froude long ago said, "it ended in bloodbefore, and it will end in blood again." 1 ThePope and the Ohurch are saying: "Oome on! come

1 Slwrt Studies on Great Subjects, by J. A. Froude, vol. ii, p. 178.


on, my sons!" for they hope to complete theConquest of England by means of a great MilitaryInvasion.

The nation seems now pretty well alive to thefact that a Military Invasion is impending. It is astrange thing that it did not become aware of thisbefore. I believe that the Pope and the Churchformed the resolution to bring it about, soon after thefall of the Temporal Power, in 1870, when, as we havealready seen, a league was founded of all Catholicsthroughout Christendom for the restoration of thatPower. And the fact was fully and clearly announcedby the Church four years later. Cardinal Manning thensaid: "There is only one solution of the difficulty,a solution, I fear, impending, and that is, the terriblescourge of Continental war, a war which will exceedthe horrors of any of the wars of the first Empire.And it is my firm conviction that, in spite of allobstacles, the Vicar of Jesus Christ will be put againin his own rightful place. But that day will not beuntil his adversaries will have crushed each otherwith mutual destruction." 1 In the last sentenceof this quotation, the Cardinal clearly refers toProtestant England being at war with some otherProtestant nation, as he hopes, to their "mutualdestruction." Cardinal Manning's article appearedin January 1874; then in November of the sameyear appeared another article by another writer inanother Roman Catholic periodical, called The Month,

1 Tlui Tablet, Ja.nuary 24, 1874.

UL TIME SPERANZE.(Last Hopes, i.e. for tlu Temporal Power.)

The Pope wElcoming the Austrian Emperor and his Soldiers.

-AVANTII AVANTI, FIOlI XE TRENTANOVE ANI CHE VE SPETEMO A ROMAI

(Conu on ! Come on 1 my sons 1 For thirty.nin. years toe h.au«waited/or you in Rome I).[B, /Je"missio1l 0/ tltlHON. G. POrJRECC'A


exactly expressing the same thoughts, but withouthesitation mentioning England. The article im-pressed Mr. Gladstone very much, and twice he drewpublic attention to it, once in a letter to LordDurham, and again in an appendix to his pamphleton The Vatican Decrees. I quote from the latter.After speaking of the determination of the Churchto restore "the terrestrial throne of the Popedom,"even by the use of fire and sword, he says: "Comparethe recent and ominous forecasting of the futureEuropean Policy of the British Crown in an articlefrom a Romish periodical for the current month(The Month, November 1874), which has directrelation to these matters, and which has everyappearance of proceeding from authority.

" , Surely in any European complication, such asmay any day arise, nay. such as must ere long arise,from the natural gravitation of the forces, which arefor the moment kept in check and truce by thenecessity of preparation for their inevitable collision,it may very well be that the future prosperity ofEngland may be staked in the struggle, and that theside which she may take may be determined, noteither by justice or interest, but by a passionate resolveto keep up the Italian Kingdom at any hazard.'

"This is a remarkable disclosure. With whomcould England be brought into conflict by anydisposition she might feel to keep up the ItalianKingdom? Considered as States, both Austria andFrance are in complete harmony with Italy. But it

21


is plain that Italy has some enemy; and the writersof The Month appear to know who it is." 1

Whatever difficulty may have existed when Mr.Gladstone penned these words, in recognizing whoItaly's enemy is, there is none to-day. Italy's enemyis Austria. Austria, like the Roman Catholic Church,is Italy's "Eternal Enemy." The two cartoons ofwhich I have just spoken bear this out. Her wholepolicy, especially during recent years, has been oneof provocation, and almost of unconcealed hostility.She has made military roads, built forts, and minedbridges, wherever her frontier is contiguous with thatof Italy. When Italy was prostrated by the greatearthquake disasters in Sicily and Calabria, andevery civilized nation in the world was tenderingsympathy and help, the Vienna papers said: "Seehow generous we are not to profit by this opportunityto make war"; and they boasted that the Emperorwas with them in entertaining the idea. I haveanother cartoon, which represents the Pope andthe Emperor Francis Joseph rubbing their handsover the catastrophe, the Pope saying: "ServesItaly right, she took from you Lombardy andVenetia," and the Emperor replying: "Serves Italyright, she took from you the Temporal Power."Pasolini never spake truer words than when he saidthat "Italy will always side with the enemiesof Austria," and that "the alliance of France,England, and Italy is the strongest guarantee for

1 T1l~Vatican Decrees, by W. E. Gladstone, Appendix C.


civilization, and for the freedom of the world." 1 TheVatican looks to the Government of Austria, itsbond-servant, to. restore the Temporal Power; but. aswe have already said, England blocks the way.Austria cannot move in the matter. either to regainVenetia and Lombardy, or to help the Pope to theTemporal Power, until England is humiliated. ThePope and the Church must first find a power toattempt this, find a power that will dare to makewar upon England. And a serious war it will be.The Roman Catholic writer in The Month knew thatwhen he said: "It may very well be that the futureprosperity of England may be staked in the struggle."

Well the world knows-it has again and againbeen declared-that the Pope and the Churchhave found such a power in Germany, and thatin the person of the Kaiser they have found thevery man to inspire and lead the nation in thisenterprise. Amongst his great and varied talents,his boundless ambition and self-confidence whichwould lead him to undertake almost anything, hepossesses, in quite a phenomenal degree, these twoqualifications for the task-hatred of England andlove of the Pope. I believe he stands uniqueamongst the rulers of the world in this respect; andit is the more strange it should be so, seeing heprofesses to be a Christian and a Protestant. Yetthat he possesses, or rather, is possessed by, thesetwo passions, there can, I think, be no doubt.

1 G-uiseppe Pasolini Memorie Racolte da suo Fiqlio, pp. 328, 331.


The Pope, as I have already had occasion to say.feels very much at home in the company of Venetians,and talks freely to them on most subjects. In thisway the Kaiser and his strange doings form notinfrequently a topic of conversation, or at least asubject of passing remark. Indeed, this can hardlybe avoided, for his portrait is a prominent object inthe Pope's rooms. Here it is on a table, there ithangs on a wall, yonder it is in an album; whilston his breast, suspended on a massive gold chain,sparkles a magnificent cross, composed entirely ofemeralds, a gift of the Kaiser to Leo XIII. Whenanyone noticing these things calls the Pope'sattention to them, a smile of amusement lights uphis face as he comes out with his favourite jokeabout the Kaiser, "Why, he is my best Europeanfriend! " The statement is a joke, and yet it is aliteral truth. No Catholic fanatic in the world ismore punctilious than he is in sending his homageand congratulations, and flattering speeches andpresents to the Pope on his ever-recurring personalfestivities, such as the anniversaries, the semi-jubilees-and jubilees, actual or prospective, of the day onwhich he was born, or was christened, or became apriest, or began to climb the ecclesiastical ladder,or reached its summit and vaulted into the chairof St. Peter.

No greater proof of the Kaiser's sympathy withthe wearer of the triple crown can be given thanthe speech he made at Aix-la-Chapelle in his praise


(In the occasion of the last jubilee of Leo XIII.Part of that speech was the following: "It waswith pride and joy that he was able to tell themthat the Pope had said to his special Ambassador,who went to Rome on the occasion of the HolyFather's jubilee, that he (the Pope) had alwayskept a high opinion of the piety of the Germans,and especially of the German army; and theAmbassador was to tell his Sovereign that thecountry in Europe where control, order, and disciplinestill prevailed, with respect for authority, and regardfor the Church, and where the latter could live, wasthe German Empire, and for that the Papal Seewas indebted to the German Emperor.'

When the Kaiser was in Rome in May 1903,and paid a visit to the Pope, his conduct excitedthe indignation of the whole Roman population,and was severely commented on by the ItalianPress. Instead of going unostentatiously, as aprivate individual, as King Edward did (although,I think, it had been better if neither had gone),thus showing a regard for the feelings of the King(If Italy and his Government and people, he wentin the most ostentatious way possible. The visitwas made on the afternoon of Sunday, May 3.Starting from the Palazzo Odescalchi, the seat ofthe Prussian Legation, the state carriages, drawnby four and six horses, all of which he had broughtfrom Berlin, formed a cavalcade a quarter of a

1 Daily Telegraph, June 21, 1902.


mile in length. For the occasion the main streetsof Rome, through which he passed, were lined bysoldiers of all kinds, grenadiers, lancers, carabiniers,cuirassiers, bersaglieri, and alpinisti. The routewas lined with Roman citizens; but little cheeringwas heard until the Emperor reached the PiazzaS. Pietro and the Piazza Santa Maria, when hewas greeted by the plaudits of crowds of priestsand monks and German pilgrims, who were as-sembled in those places. In the Vatican, membersof the leading families of the "black party" werethere to welcome him and escort him to theirchief. The Kaiser entered the Vatican at 3.15and left it at 4.20; and, as the result of the visit,instantly all the clerical papers announced, witha flourish of trumpets, that the Kaiser had assuredthe Pope that he would take fresh steps in favourof Roman Catholic interests throughout the Empire,and Monsignors went about Rome saying that theChurch would not have long to wait for tangibleproof'> of the fulfilment of this promise. No Sove-reign, since the creation of the Kingdom of Italy,ever before so honoured the Pope, and as a conse-quence showed such disregard for the feelings andinterests of the Government and people. Nor hasany Protestant monarch been honoured (or, I shouldrather say, dishonoured) by the Pope as the Kaiserhas been; for, to the amusement and disgust of allItaly, the Pope never fails to have a Te Deum sungin St. Peter's in honour of his birthday!


Then the Kaiser has done what his father andgrandfather refused to do, although pressed to doit: he has bestowed the decoration of the BlackEagle upon an ecclesiastic. That decoration, thehighest a German Emperor has to give, has hithertoonly been bestowed upon distinguished civil servantsof the Crown. William III. bestowed it on CardinalCope, thus honouring the Vatican and the Pope.Lastly, by secret negotiations with the Pope, andas a proof that their interests and policy in certainmatters are identical, he secured the election of oneof his own subjects, Francis Xavier Warnz, to theposition of General of the .Icsuits, or to he, whatone holding that position is called in Italy, theBlack Pope.

The result of this unholy alliance, of this unionin mutual love of each other and detestation ofEngland, is that the Kaiser has become the willinginstrument of the Pope and the Vatican for thehumiliation of England, in order to the ultimaterestoration of the Temporal Power. What RichardBagot, the Roman Catholic novelist, wrote duringthe Boer "War, in the number of the NationalReview for May 1900, holds equally true to-day, that"the whole campaign against England was due tothe intrigues of the Vatican, which is working, asit has ever worked and ever will work, to promoteand encompass the humiliation of England.'

Italy has long known that the Vatican has been1, The National Review, May, 1900.


egging on the German Emperor to invade England,and has for years warned us of our peril. She hasdone this with all the greater earnestness and per-sistency that she knows that her own turn will comenext. She has told us that just as the naval andmilitary preparations of Germany, carried on withsuch mad haste and to such an abnormal extent,are, in her opinion, directed against England: sothe similar preparations carried on in the samespirit by Austria, are directed against herself j andthat, in the event of England's humiliation, Austriawill at once, backed by Germany, attempt to recoverVenetia and Lombardy; and then, as Dr. White'seminent Roman Catholic diplomat at the Haguesaid, Italy will be deluged in blood, in the attemptto restore the Temporal Power.

I think that Great Britain is pretty well alivenow to this peril against which Italy has warned us;and it would be an easy task for me to marshalfacts in its support, to show, indeed, that the perilis very great and very near, as great and near, asI said in my opening chapter, as it was in 1690.Indeed, I have already written out these facts, butat the last moment I withhold them from a senseof the grave responsibility of publishing anythingthat might be construed as inciting to war. At thesame time, there is less need that I should recountthem, as many of them are now widely known,having been discussed in the British Parliament andin the public Press; and as Italy's interpretation of


Germany's objective is very generally accepted bymen of all political complexions as the correct one.

It has long been known in Italy, and Italy haswarned England of the fact, that the original datefixed upon by the Pope and the Kaiser for thecarrying out of their nefarious enterprise was 1911-1912. This date has been mentioned also severaltimes in the British Parliament and in the Press. Iam in possession of the reasons that led to theselection of this date. They are many and various,some touching Germany, others England, and Italy,and not a few having reference to the disaffectedstate of Ireland at our own doors, and of Irelandacross the ocean. However, I do not intend hereto enter further into them, all the more that thepartial awakening of England to the danger of thesituation has probably spoilt the project for so earlya date as the one indicated.

Still it cannot be too vividly recognized that it willnot be the fault of Britain's enemies-in this casethe enemies of Italy's unity and liberty also-if thescheme be not carried out later. Its prevention liesin the hands of England. Not long ago Lord Roberts,writing to General Sir Henry Rawlinson, said: "Iam persuaded that before very long Englishmen willbe called upon to defend themselves. I fear lestthe hour of trial may find them unprepared."

It is for England, then, to rouse herself, so as, inthe first place, to realize, clearly and fully, her peril;and then, without a moment's delay, to set about


putting in force measures to ensure her safety andwell-being; determined that, cost what it may, "thehour of trial" shall not find her unprepared. It isfor England to realize that it is not only her ownwelfare and her own life, with all that these standfor of human liberty and progress, and of thespreading of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christthroughout the world, that are at stake in thethreatened conflict; but also the welfare and thelife, with all their promise of blessing to mankind,of Italy, her most faithful and warm friend. IfEngland is humiliated, so also will Italy be humili-ated. The welfare of Old England and of YoungItaly are in jeopardy. 'V AKEUP, ENGLAND!

XVIII

Measures of Defence and Reform

., What meanest thou, 0 sleeperP Arise, callupon thy aod, if so be that aod will thinkupon us, that we perish not."

-JOKAII i, 6.

IDO not intend to say anything in this chapterin regard to Measures of Defcnce and Reform tomeet the threatened Military Invasion we have

just been considering. That, however important,clearly lies outside the scope of the present work.I desire, however, here to express the hope which,I am sure, all Christians and all patriots share, thatEngland will shake off all lethargy, and all resting ina false security, and so, rising to the occasion, takesuch measures that her enemies will be constrainedfrom fear of defeat, if from no higher motive, toabandon their ignoble enterprise.

But what I am concerned with is that Measuresof Defence and Reform, practical and effective,should be taken, and that instantly, before it is toolate, against the Pope's. huge army of Invasionalready within our borders, and which is activelyengaged, as we have seen, deteriorating anddegenerating the people. And I am also concernedthat. Measures of Defence and Reform should be

3:)t


taken against that spiritual backsliding, that de-parture from fidelity to Christ, from Gospel truthand from Protestant principles, which has renderedEngland's sons and daughters so vulnerable to theattacks of the priestly and monkish soldiers of thatarmy. For it seems to me to be surely a very short-sighted and a very foolish policy to think only of aproblematical Military Invasion, and to make greatand costly preparations to meet it, and at the sametime to ignore an enemy already in our midst, andto do nothing to stay its ravages-ravages, too, whichare far more serious and far more difficult to repair,than any which any Military Invasion could possiblyinflict upon us.

A Military Invasion may work a nation muchmaterial damage. It may turn her fertile fields andgardens into a wilderness, it may burn her home-steads and villages, it may cripple her industries, itmay impoverish her exchequer, it may slay her sons,and bring sorrow and mourning into many a home;but it cannot destroy-it cannot touch a nation'shigher life, it cannot deteriorate an individual or anation intellectually or morally and spiritually. Onthe contrary, the invasion of a land by foreign troops,as was the case in Italy in 1848-49, and in 1859-60,may be for the moral elevation and regeneration ofits people. We speak of those wars as havingsecured the "redemption of Italy"; they securedalso the redemption of the Italians. For the wholebody of the people, in common with those who were

MEASURES OF DEFENCE AND REFORM 333

actually on the field of battle, not only seemed tolose every trace of the dolce far niente spirit, everytrace of timidity, of self-seeking, of giving way torage and passion, of insincerity in word or act; butall exhibited an energy, a reliability, a kindness ofheart, an abhorrence of meanness, cruelty, and wrong,a self-command, a patient endurance of suffering-even a glorying in it, an indomitable courage, andan unquenchable faith in a glorious future for theircountry which rose clear before their eyes purgedfrom impurity, that turned them into heroes andmartyrs, and that even evoked the admiration of thebetter-minded of their enemies.

A defensive war, engaged in on behalf ofcountry, home, and liberty, docs not necessarilydeteriorate a people; on the contrary, its tendencyfrequently is to elevate and ennoble them. Mr.Ruskin, in a lecture on War, given at the RoyalMilitary Academy, Woolwich, enumerates severalkinds of what he calls "creative or foundational"wars; one of which, he says, is that" in which thenatural instincts of self-defence are sanctified bythe nobleness of the institutions and purity of thehouseholds which they are appointed to defend."And then he adds: "To such war as this all menare born; in such war as this any man may happilydie; and forth from such war as this have arisen,throughout the extent of past ages, all the highestsanctities and virtues of humanity." 1

1 I'M CrO'llmof Wild Olive, Lecture III., by John Ruskin.


I say, then, that it is surely both short-sightedand foolish-it is worse, it is even unpatriotic andcriminal-to think only of an uncertain MilitaryInvasion, and to incur the crushing burden ofa vast expenditure in order to meet it (althoughI recognize that we cannot do less in view ofthe German programme), whilst at the sametime we are giving a free hand, in some quarterseven a helping hand, to an enemy far more subtleand far more dangerous, which is everywhere,as we have seen, deteriorating and degeneratingthe mind and heart of the people; supplantingBible-reading and study by "the lying vanities ofof Sacerdotalism"; substituting for the voice ofconscience and the teaching of the Holy Spirit,the voice of the Church and of human authority;loosening the affectionate bonds that bind mentogether as families, and the patriotic bonds thatbind them together as a nation, that they may betied by the chains of superstition and fear to the feetof the priest and the Pope ; destroying spiritualityaltogether, and lowering the moral tone of society;undermining our grand Protestant institutions; un-doing the glorious Reformation to which Englandowes all her greatness, and sapping the verymanhood of the nation. And all this it doesunder the guise of friendship and under the cloak ofreligion. Italy very strikingly sets forth this modeof working of the Papal Church in a cartoon Ipossess, which represents a priest smilingly throwing


his arms round a stalwart workman as if in friendship,whilst he stabs him in the back with a knife. Itis also not inaptly represented in an incident inItaly's struggles for independence. When the fatherof Luigi Settembrini, stripped and wounded by theBourbon troops, was dragged to prison at Naples,the sentinel at the door said to him as he waspushed in: "Poor young man, you are half-dead.Smell this rose, it will refresh you." Settembrinidid SO, but his pretended benefactor gave a pushto the rose, and a spike hidden in it ran up hisnose and pierced his brain.' So these enemies inour midst, disguised as friends, pretend to bringus spiritual gifts and blessings, only that they maystrike at the most vital seat of life, the heart andconscience, the moral and spiritual nature of theindividual and of the nation.

I know that any attempt to deal with theRoman Catholic Church in England is met by thecry of intolerance and persecution.

In regard to the first charge, I would remindthe reader of what Mr. Froude said: "Tolerationis a good thing in its place; but you cannot toleratewhat will not tolerate you, and is trying to cutyour throat"; 2 and again he said: "Intolerance ofan enemy who is trying to kill you seems to mea pardonable state of mind." 3 'Ve want liberty,

1Rem,iniscenze del 1779 e del 1821, by Luigi Settembrini.2 Short Studies on Great Subjed8, by J. A. Froude, vol. i. p. 180.3 Idem, vol. ii, p. 63.

336 THE PAPAL CONQUEST,

but we want liberty for all. Roman Catholicswant liberty only for themselves, and a liberty thatthey may use in oppressing, and persecuting, andkilling those whom they call heretics. As theItalian cartoon entitled, "Liberty according to thePriests," shows, "they want liberty, but that ofbeing able to burn people alive, as in the daysof Giordano Bruno."

In regard to the second charge, I would remindthe reader that persecution is foreign to the geniusof Protestantism and to Biblical Christianity, the onlyChristianity the Protestant knows. Truth carriesits witness in itself, and needs no material force topropagate it. Only lies need anathemas to supportthem, and only they who hold lies that require toban, and persecute, and threaten to kill those whorefuse to believe and obey them.

But intolerance and persecution are one thing,and self-defence is another; and, as we havealready seen, Roman Catholic Disabilities Acts havebeen placed on the statute books of differentcountries, purely in self-defence, and that notagainst religious beliefs and modes of worship,however idolatrous and objectionable, but againstclaims and practices which stifle the conscience,and the freedom of thought and of judgment ofthe individual, disturb family and social life, and,as Mr. Gladstone has said, "menace in principlethe civil rights and order of Christendom." 1 And

1Gleanings of Past Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol. vi. p. 198.

LA LIBERT/.. DEI PRETI.(Liberty accordilzg to the Priests.)

r--:---:--'"7:"':"!':'""-~-_

VOGLIONO LA LIBERTA, MA QUEU.A DI BRUCIARE LA GENTE VIVA, COMEAL TEMPO DI GIORDANO BRUNO I

(Thq watzt liberty. but that 0/ bein,srable to burn ptople alive, as in thedays of Giordano Bruno /)

L'AS1NO, 3' A tlr. ,go a.J [B)' favDur 0./ tire

HON. G. PODRRCCA

MEASURES OF DEFENOE AND REFORM 337

the extraordinary thing is that there is not a nationon the Continent of Europe, Catholic or non-Catholic, that has not, as we have seen, in activeforce these Disabilities Acts. I here quote anotherpassage from Mr. Gladstone in regard to what wemay still call Protestant Germany and CatholicAustria. He says: "Germany and Austria, whichare not menaced by the claims of Vatieanism,except in common with all civilized nations, havedeemed it needful to defend themselves by regula-tive or repressive laws against the encroachmentsof ecclesiastical power." 1 The fact of the matteris, that no .nation can long live and progress withthe Roman Catholic Church in its midst, whichdoes not protect itself by such "regulative or re-pressive laws"; and Great Britain need not deludeherself by supposing that she will prove an ex-ception. The best illustration of this I find inthe history of Italy.

The Kingdom of Italy, created in 1861, beganlife with the determination to put into practicethe principle embodied in the well-known phraseof Montalembert's, A Free Church in a FreeState, a phrase so strongly taken up by Cavourthat its authorship is always attributed to him.On Cavour's initiative it was done. Pope, prelates,and priests were left free to say and do what theychose within the limits of the ordinary law of therealm. They were relieved even of temporal cares,

I Gleanings of PG$t Years, by W. E. Gladstone, vol, vi. 1)' 201.22


as the State made provision for their maintenance,and, as I have said, lent the Vatican to the Pope,and the churches to the priests, without charge,so that the Papacy was made more free than ithad ever been at any period of its history. Asa writer in the Nazione for December, 1901, said:"He who denies it audaciously contradicts history."

Cavour hoped, and many hoped with him, thatthe Church thus freed would betake herself to aspiritual mission. A spiritual mission! I doubtif such a thought ever entered the mind of Pope,or Cardinal, or of anyone in the Vatican; and evenif it had been suggested to them, I doubt if anyof them would have been capable of understandingwhat it meant. The late William Arthur, in hisbook, The Pope, the Kings, and the People, tellsus that when he was in Rome a diplomatist hearinghim say: "I began the study of this subject asa religious question, but--" finished the sentencefor him thus: "yes, but you find it is all politics;and the further you get into it the more purelypolitical you will find it." 1 Nor is there a journalistin Rome who does not know that the Vatican,as one expressed it, "is simply a centre of politicalintrigue. "

So it was at the birth of Italy, and thescope of the political intrigue was to damage tothe utmost, and if possible strangle the life of the

1 The Pope, the Kings, and the People, by Wm. Arthur, preface,p. xiv.


young kingdom, in order to the restoration of theTemporal Power. Victor Emmanuel, il Re Galan-tuomo, was never spoken of as the King of Italy,but only as the King of Sardinia. The childrenwere taught in the schools that the Pope was theirking, temporal and spiritual, just as I have beentold is done in some parts of Ireland. Historywas falsified in favour of the Church, and the wholeteaching in clerical schools was, as I have elsewhereshown, worse than useless. Theological facultiesin the Universities and Chaplaincies in the Armyonly served to train youths in immorality andrebellion. Electors were hampered and hinderedin the discharge of their civil duties. Legislationwas made difficult, and the carrying out of thelaw was impeded. Seeds of disaffection and dis-loyalty were diligently sown amongst the people,and when they germinated into insurrection, asthey did in Sicily, Carrara, and other places, thatwas kept alive and nourished by the priests financedfrom the Vatican.

Still Italy was reluctant to fetter the Churchby "regulative and repressive laws"; desiring toput to the fairest and fullest test the principleof Cavour.

Yet it was very soon manifest that things couldnot be allowed to go on as they were, and so fromtime to time measures, imperatively called for inself-defence, were taken. As I have already hadoccasion to refer to these, I here only mention them


as briefly as possible. Monasteries and nunnerieswhich had been suppressed in Piedmont by Cavourhimself, as far back as 1855, were suppressedthroughout the entire kingdom. Education wastaken entirely out of the hands of the Church, andmade national, compulsory, free, secular, and lay.The cartoon which represents France cleansing herschools by sweeping priests, monks, sisters, nuns,and all members of the clerical fraternity outinto the street, and throwing their books afterthem out of the window, represents also whattook place in Italy. The teachers, both men andwomen, are all lay, and are thoroughly trained inexcellent normal schools,and no text-book is permittedin a school that has not received the imprimatur ofthe Supreme Council of Education in Rome. Theo-logical faculties in the Universities, and chaplainciesin the Army and Navy were abolished. The publicnuisance of "Host" processions was put a stop to.The observance of Saints' Days and Madonna Dayswas discouraged, and the observance of Sunday re-commended, and has since been enjoined by law.Marriage was taken entirely out of the hands of theChurch and made a civil contract.

Still the country suffered at the hands of acunning and unscrupulous Church, with its priestsas willing agents in every corner of the land.Through these she maligned the Sovereign and theGovernment; she interfered with elections; shescreened criminals; she nullified the effects of useful


legislation; she annoyed those who bought orfarmed confiscated Ohurch lands; she disturbed thepeace of families; she terrorized the dying to securepolitical confessions or their money; and in ahundred other ways created political trouble whichimpeded the growth and prosperity of the country.

At last the forbearance of people and Governmentwas exhausted, and in 1899, Giuseppe Zanardelli,one of Italy's great lawyers, who was then Premier,prepared the New Penal Code, to which I havealready had occasion several times to refer. Inintroducing the measure to the House he said that ithad yet to be seen who ruled in Italy, the King or thePope, the Priests or the People, and the time had cometo settle the question. He maintained that theOode was framed purely as a defensive measure, andcontained no element of religious persecution. Itwas passed with little opposition both by the Houseof Deputies and by the Senate; and it came intooperation on January 1, 1890. I cannot do morehere than quote two of its clauses.

Clause 173.-"Any minister who, in the exerciseof his priestly offices, censures and abuses the institu-tions and laws of the State, or the enactments ofthe authorities, renders himself liable to fine andimprisonment."

Clause 174.-" A priest who, abusing the moralpower derived from his office, incites to the settingaside of the institutions and laws of the State; orin any other way to the neglect of duties due to the


country, or inherent in a public office; or whodamages legitimate private interests, and disturbsthe peace of families, renders himself liable to fine,imprisonment, and temporary or perpetual suspensionfrom office, or from the endowments of his office."

The result of the passing of this Code is, thatwhilst it does not menace in the slightest degree thereligious freedom of any Church in Italy, be itRoman Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Jewish,Greek, or Mohammedan, but on the contrary securesequal liberty for all-it absolutely protects theindividual and the State against the pretensions, thedomination, the persecution of the Papal Church.No Italian, and no foreigner in Italy, can be annoyednow for doing that which the law of the land com-mands or permits to be done, no matter what thelaw of the Church may be. The recent Encyclicalsof the Pope in regard to marriage, in regard toModernism, in common with the whole Canon Lawof the Church, are only dead letters, counting fornothing in the free land of Italy.

Italy, then, after a fair trial lasting over thirtyyears, found Cavour's motto, A Free Church in aFree State, when that Church is a Roman Catholicone, unworkable and untenable. Therefore it wasabandoned, and this motto was substituted for it :Free Religion in a Sovereign State, and in order tobe a Sovereign State, in order to be mistress of her ownaffairs within her own borders, she put on her StatuteBook these Roman CatholicDisabilitiesActs, which,


placing her in that supreme position, enables her toconfine that Church to her own proper sphere, andto secure equal liberty to every Church, to everyinstitution, to every society, and to every individualwithin the realm.

Italy suffered much at the hands of the PapalChurch before she took these steps to curb her, butnot more than Great Britain is suffering at thepresent time. Indeed there is not an evil that thenoppressed her, that does not oppress England to-day.As we have seen, England is being deteriorated anddegraded intellectually and morally; her family lifeis losing its peace and sanctity; legislation is beinghindered; electors are terrorized ; the Press is losingmuch of its impartiality; free speech is beingsuppressed; crime is on the increase; the law is brokenwith impunity; a miscarriage of justice is notinfrequent; the country is being impoverished; itsinstitutions are being undermined; the liberty of thesubject is being interfered with, Protestants, even, arebeing openly persecuted: and all because of thepresence in her midst of that great army of foreignpriests, monks, and nuns (helped by a local Britishand Irish contingent) which has been sent to ourshores by the Papal Church for the express purposeof doing these very things; and that in order to pre-pare the way for a great Military Invasion, plannedby the Church, and being pushed forward by theChurch, by which she hopes to destroy EnglishProtestantism, to enrich herself materially und


morally; and, above all, to regain the TemporalPower, to the acquisition of which England bars theway.

He surely is no true liberal, is no true patriot,who permits these things to be done by any enemy,no matter who he may be and no matter whoseauthority may be behind him, whether Pope orEmperor; and no matter what sacred names he maybear on his lips, whether of God, of Liberty, orof Religion. The sooner England deals with thisenemy, after the manner Italy has dealt with it,after the manner every nation on the Continent ofEurope has dealt with it, the better.' And againI say it is foolish, it is unpatriotic, it is criminal,to prepare defensive measures only against thethreatened attack of an enemy outside our borders,whilst we take no defensive measures against anenemy already in our midst, the ally and forerunnerof that other, and which I believe is doing us fargreater mischief than it is in the power of that otherto inflict.

But England which must awake to deal courage-ously and strenuously with her enemies inside andoutside her borders, must awake also to deal courage-ously and strenuously with herself-a far moredifficult thing to do. It is much easier to face avisible foe than to grapple with the invisibledemons of lust and passion, of indolence and in-difference to spiritual things, of pride and worldli-

1 Appendix No. IX.


ness, of love of pleasure and love of display, ofaversion from Bible study and prayer, within thebreast of the man himself. Hence the saying ofthe wise man: "He that ruleth his spirit (is better)than he that taketh a city.'

In a letter I received in September 1909,from an eminent statesman who knows the peopleof England as well as anyone, he assures me that"the heart of the country is sound." I believehim. And the judgment of the many Colonialjournalists who lately visited the Homeland coincideswith his. What they said in their speeches, andin answer to questions put to them through thePress, makes, upon the whole, cheerful reading. 2

At the same time no observer can shut his eyes tothe fact that we have national blemishes, nationalfaults, national backslidings that call for amendment.An excessive devotion to sport is one of these. I wasstruck with a remark made by Count Pasolini (theItalian statesman whom I have already quoted)when he first visited England in July 1863. Hesaid that "the overpowering love for the genialpleasures of the chase, and of other sports, wasperhaps a sign that England, having reached theapex of her prosperity, rich and happy, had gone tosleep a little on her laurels; and, although notdeclining, might not attain to a higher level." 3 If

I Pnnierbs xvi. 32.2 The Review of Reviews, July and August 1909.3 Gltiseppe PaBolini Memorie Racolte da suo Figlio, p. 276.


these words contained a measure of truth whenspoken nearly half a century ago, they contain alarger measure of it to-day. Even when sport is en-gaged in for reasons of health, as in our schools andcolleges, it may be carried to excess. The thoughtof the body, the care of the body, is a vice when itleads to the neglect of the mind and the spiritualnature. The Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says:"Bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness isprofitable unto all things." 1 And that spectacle,too common nowadays, little deserves to be calledsport at all where a few play whilst thousandslook idly on, many of whom have a financial interestin the game. The Colonial journalists mentionedamongst our national blemishes the" excess of luxuryamongst the rich," "its growth amongst the upperand middle classes," conjoined with "great want,"with" the extreme hardships of the poor." Not afew referred to the prevalence of drinking evenamong women, and to "the growing evil of ladiessmoking in the dining-rooms of hotels and privatehouses."

But at the bottom of all our national faults andfailings, the source and explanation of them all, liesthe depreciation and neglect of the Bible, or ratherthe neglect of the Bible alone; for, as :Mr. Ruskinsaid, in that same lecture on War, already quoted," if you choose to obey your Bibles, you will nevercare who attacks them." But people do not obey

1 1 Timothy iv. 8..


the Bible, for they no longer read it. It is not readin the family, it is not read and studied in privateas it once was. And even in public worship thereis less reading in the Book of the law of Goddistinctly, and giving the sense, and causing thepeople to understand the reading.'

The late Bishop of Durham, Dr. Westcott, said:"Nothing less than our national character is at stakein our regard for the Bible." He also quotesM. Michel, a French traveller, as asking: "Whatis the cause, that the colonists of New Zealand,and Tasmania, and Australia are so wise and sopractical?" And the traveller answer.'! his OWll

question thus: "In my opinion it must be attributedchiefly to their habitual reading of the HolyScriptures, and their thorough acquaintance withtheir contents. Hence come those great ideas ofthe Fatherhood of God, of His Righteousness, ofHis Providence, which shape those faithful andconstant souls which we call characters. And towhat do they owe their strength of principle if notto the Bible, their great teacher?" And then Dr.Westcott adds: "We almost tremble as we hearthe sentences, for in those very countries to whichreference is made, the authority of this 'great teacher'is imperilled. Weare beginning to forget, undernew conditions of life, what has made England great,and what, as I believe, alone can keep her great." 2

1Nehemiah viii. 8.S Lessons/rom Work, by Westcott, p. 140.


This neglect of the Bible accounts largely forthe spirit of worldliness and carelessness; for theabject poverty alongside of an excessive display ofwealth; for the devotion to sport and pleasure, tocard-playing, and betting, and gambling; for thedisunion in the family and in society, so largelyprevalent in our midst. It accounts, with othercauses already spoken of, for the opening of the" gates of Mansoul" to the myrmidons of the Papacy,and for men and women listening to the voice ofDiabolus, speaking through the priest, and saying:"You cannot study the Bible for yourself ....Resign your intellect, your judgment, your conscienceto me-and I will guide you. I am the voice of theChurch, speaking the wisdom of the first and purestage. I will undertake for you. . . . I will receiveyour confessions. I will minister your absolution." 1

And it accounts, therefore, for the spiritual torpor anddeadness, for the aversion to strenuous exertion, toself-sacrifice, to public service, to "endure hardnessas a good soldier of Jesus Christ," 2 which is thelament of the age; and it accounts, too, for that mostignorant, most senseless disparagement of Protestant-ism and Puritanism, and of those Reformationprinciples to which England owes her existence andher greatness.

Shakespeare could say of his countrymen-

1 The Presence of God ill His Temple, by Dr. C. J. Vaughan of theTemple Church, pp. 70-71.

2 2 Timothy ii, 3.


"In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spiritsDid never float upon the swelling tide,To do offence and scath in Christiandom." I

Yes, but Shakespeare's countrymen of whom hespeaks were Protestants and Puritans. They wereProtestants and Puritans to a man, who, in thesixteenth century, saved England from destructionat the hands of the Roman Catholic Church and Spain.They were Protestants and Puritans who, when"the Spanish Government placed their harboursunder the control of the Holy Office," whieh seized," flung into a dungeon, tortured, starved, set to workin the galleys, or burned in a fool's coat at I1Il auto-da-fe at Seville," every English merchant and sailoron whom a Bible or Prayer-Book was found, boldlyentered their ports, and destroying their forts andshipping, and bombarding their towns, struck terrorinto the heart of the Inquisition itself." They wereProtestants and Puritans to a man who, scouringthe high seas, captured and plundered Spain's goldfleet; and so not only crippled her power at sea, butcrippled her resources for the massacring of Englishand Dutch Protestants and French Huguenots."And they were Protestants and Puritans who, in1580, encountered and defeated, by the help of God,whose they were and whom they served, Spain'sInvincible Armada, and so, wresting from the

I King John, by Shakespeare, Act i, scene 2.2 English &amen in the Sixteenth CellhtT?l,by .J. A. Fronde, pp.

22, 23.a Idem, p. 228.


Spaniards the Sovereignty of the Sea, snatching fromthe hand of Philip the sceptre of Ocean and placingit in that of Queen Elizabeth, not only securedEngland's safety, but laid the foundations of thatgreatness of Empire to which she has now attained."The English sea power was the legitimate childof the Reformation." 1

If England, then, is to be defended from her manyenemies at home and abroad; if England is to bemaintained in the exalted position amongst thenations to which God has called her; if England isto continue to fulfil, as in the past, or even inincreased measure, the lofty mission entrusted toher of maintaining peace, and of carrying theblessings of humanity and of Christianity round theworld, then she must depend on the true heartsand the strong arms of her Protestant and herPuritan sons alone. As the late Dr. Dale ofBirmingham said, "Let Protestantism loose its holdon this country, and the old life of the nation, whichfor three centuries has manifested itself in suchenergetic and noble forms, has created the virtueswhich constitute the strength and stability of theEnglish character, has inspired our intellectualtriumphs, has built up our material prosperity, hasmade our reverence for the authority of law aprinciple and a habit, and our love for politicalfreedom a passion, has given to our arms imperishablerenown, and placed at our feet a wider and a prouder

1 English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, by .J. A. Froude, p. 4.


empire than ancient Rome ever governed :-this life,so rich, so deep, so robust, will pass for ever away.Let the nation cease to be Protestant, and theEngland which, notwithstanding her faults, we haveso passionately admired, will cease to exist."

It is for us, then, to hold firmly and guardfaithfully that glorious heritage of ChristianProtestantism in which ten generations of ourforefathers lived nobly, and died hopefully, andcreated-

" Our vast orient-and one isle, one isle,That knows not her own vaerness " ;

and it is for us to hand it onward in all its life-sustaining and life-giving power to those who shallcome after us.

It is only in the natural soil of the un-renewed heart that Roman Catholicism canever take root. As Professor Raffaele Marianoof the University of Naples has said: "The essenceof the Papal Oatholic Church is to be an Insuranceof Salvation Society for those who inwardly arenot touched by the spiritual power of the Gospel."When Roman Catholics in Italy find Ohrist, then,no matter what the cost may be, in former daysit was their lives, in the present day it may be (asin the case of priests) their livelihood-they leavethat Ohristless Church. No Christian, no one whoreally knows Ohrist, no one who has been regenerated,redeemed, born again, could ever be induced to


enter it. The thing is an impossibility. Before hecould do so he would require to cease to be a Christian.

Mr. Gladstone has said: "The temptation towardsthe Church of Rome of which some are conscious,has never been before my mind in any other sensethan as other plain and flagrant sins have been beforeit." 1 For a Christian to enter the PapalChurch would be to sin openly and flagrantlyagainst light, against truth; it would be tocrucify to himself "the Son of God afresh, and putHim to an open shame" ;2 it would be to tread" under-foot the Son of God," to count "the blood of thecovenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholything," and to do "despite unto the Spirit ofGrace" ; 8 for, as Mr. Ruskin has said, "the entiredoctrine and system of that Church is in the fullestsense anti-Christian," and" its lying and idolatrousPower is the darkest plague that ever held commissionto hurt the earth," and "we never can have theremotest fellowship with the utterers of that fearfulFalsehood, and live." •

Therefore only those who are unconverted, whoare still in the grip and power of Satan, will everbe found entering Satan's Church. Therefore whilstit is the duty of the State, by Roman CatholicDisabilities Acts, to restrain that Church as a rival

1Lilli of GladstO'llll, by Morley, vol. i. p. 231.2 Hebrews vi. 6.3 Hebrews x, 29.4 The Seven Lamps of Ardlitect'Urt, Note 1., by John Ruskin.


political power from interfering with the libertiesof the individual, of the family, and of the Stateitself, yet to prevent men and women from beingtaken captive by it, to prevent them yielding them-selves to its seductions, to save them from theravages of "the darkest plague that ever held com-mission to hurt the earth," the one effectualremedy is to bring them to the acceptanceof salvation through faith in the Lord JesusChrist. It is to cause them to realize the all-sufficiency of the sacrifice offered by Christon Calvary for their sins, a sacrifice that wasoffered once for all, and needs not to berepeated or supplemented, that cannot be re-peated or supplemented by any priest, at anyaltar in the world. It is to cause them to realizethat a saving interest in Christ's all-prevailing sacrificeis freely bestowed on all who will accept it-" The Giftof God is Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."Therefore they need not work to merit it. Thereforethey need not pay to purchase it. Therefore they needno earthly mediator, no earthly confessor, no earthlyabsolver-" If any man sin, we have an Advocatewith the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." There-fore they need no infallible teacher, "no personsitting in God's temple, calling himself whetherChrist's Vicar or God's Vicegerent," for" they shallbe all taught of God," 1 for in them will be fulfilledthe Apostle John's words: "But ye have an unction

1Joli« vi. 45.


from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 1

Realizing their independence of man, they willrealize also, so far as their salvation is concerned,their independence of all cold dead formalism, ofall outward rite and ceremony ; for" God is a Spirit,and they that worship Him must worship Him inspirit and in truth." They will realize even theirindependence of all place and circumstance, because,indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they become their owntemples, their own sanctuaries: "Kno",*,ye not thatye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit ofGod dwelleth in you 1 for the temple of God is holy,which temple ye are." 2

I would plead, therefore, with all Preachers,Evangelists, and Missionaries, to awake to afresh realization of the efficacy of this "gloriousGospel of the blessed God," 8 as "the power of Godunto salvation to everyone that believeth";" andto remember that their great commission is "not tobaptize," /)not" to serve tables," 6 but "to preach theGospel," and so to let it once more be heard in all itssimplicity, and in all its fulness in every corner ofthe land. And I would urge them to return to theold-fashioned practice of Scriptural exposition. Thesolid knowledge and right understanding impartedby lecturing systematically through a portion or abook of the Bible, is not only fitted to build up the

11 John ii. 20.3J Timothy i. II.6 1 Corinthians i. 17.

2 1 Corinthians iii. 16, 17.4 Romans i, ]6.n Acts vi. 2.

MEASURF..s OF DEFENCE ANt> REFORM 355

believer in his most holy faith,' but to prevent himfrom being tossed to and fro and carried about withevery wind or doctrine, by the sleight of men, andcunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive,"Expository teaching is one of the great needs of thepresent day.

I would plead, therefore, with Scholars andTeachers that, whilst recognizing that difficultiesof form and even of statement exist in God's Word,doubtless placed there by God Himself for wise pur-poses, it may be even to stimulate an interest in thestudy of the Word itself, yet that they should notdwell on these, lest, knowing" the flaws," 8 they maynever know "the Book"; 8 but that they shoulddwell rather on its grand human and Divine features,and above all on its great central Gospel theme,Redemption from sin, penalty, and power throughthe Atoning Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I would plead with Parents to make thespiritual interests of their children their chief concern,and to make them, like Timothy, familiar from theirearliest years with" the Holy Scriptures, which areable to make wise unto salvation through faith whichis in Christ Jesus"; to cause them even to learn byheart that most marvellous compendium of Christiandoctrine, to the knowledge of which Archbishop Taitattributed his escape from the snares of Tractarianismand Romanism-The Shorter Catechism; and not

1 Jude 20. 2 Ephesians iv, 14.a 11'01's Gla'J'igera, hy John Ruskin, Letter XLI.


for any supposed advantages, educational, social, orotherwise, send their children to conventual schoolseither at home or abroad, but, on the contrary, guardtheir minds and hearts from Papal infection, as theywould guard their bodies from the germs of a loath-some and deadly disease.

Lastly, I would plead with my Countrymeneverywhere to reinstate the Bible in its oldplace of sovereignty in their homes and in theirhearts, not only realizing it to be the most marvel-lous book of instruction and culture in the wholerange of literature, but as the Living Word of theLiving God; and to read it and study it morningby morning, and evening by evening, so as to findin its every book Jesus Christ, to exhibit Whom everybook was written, but for Whom we would have hadno Bible; and Who thus, running through its pagesfrom Genesis to Revelation, binds it-though writtenby different men at different times, extending acrosswell-nigh twenty centuries-into one harmoniouswhole, and has made it during the well-nigh twentycenturies that have elapsed since its completion, thelife-giving and the life-sustaining food of God'schildren, which it must continue to be till the endof time.

If we have in a measure forgotten ourprivileges and our trust, and suffered by ourforgetfulness, let our Family, Social, andNational difficulties be to us a voice of warn-ing, of Reproof, of Correction, of Guidance,

MEASURES OF DEFBNCB AND REFORM 351

the voice of the Lord Himself, saying, "Standye in the ways, and see, and esk for the old paths,where is the good way, and walk therein, and yeshall find rest for your souls," 1 and may we hearto obey. Then will the words spoken long centuriesago to another people, apply in fuller measure thanever before to England: "And what one nation inthe earth is like Thy people, ... whom God went toredeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him aname, and to do for you great things, and terrible?" 2

We have as Individuals, as Families, andas a Nation, been to a large extent spiritu-ally asleep. May the present crisis in ourhistory be to us as the Advent Call, "It ishigh time to awake out of sleep.?" Awakethou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,and Christ shall give thee light." ,

1 Jeremiah vi. 16.:J Romans xiii, 11.

2 2 Samuel vii. 23.4 Ephuians v. 14.

APPENDIX

I

"INBTJ4D of showing signs of increase, the Church of Romeis rapidly decaying, and only a drsmetic change of its wholecharacter can save it from ruin." '" Catholic countries' aredisappearing from the map of the world."-7'he Decay of theChurch of Rome, by Joseph M'Cabe, pp. 5, 13.

II

"It will thus be seen at a glance that the Church has lostthe allegiance of four-fifths of the elite of the nation, the literateand enfranchised, class. In this, as we shall see, clerical writerslike Murri fully concur"; and Mr. M'Cabe quotes him as sayingthat not only have the educated and middle classes left theChurch, but also that they are "bitterly hostile" to it.-Idem,pp. 58,63.

III

"In the case of France, then, we can make a fairly precisedetermination of the fortunes of the Church of Rome. Withinhalf a century it has fallen from the position of a Church of30,000,000 in a population of 36,000,000, to a shrunken body of(at the most) 6,000,000 in a population of 39,000,OOO."-Idem,p.33.

ApPENDIX 359

IV"Fully 3,000,000 of the literate and adult population have

been lost by the Church of Rome in Austria since 1848." Aftera survey of Hungary, Mr. M'Cabe says: "The Church has,indeed, only a majority of illiterates, who are still nearly50 per cent. of the population of Hungary."-Idem, pp. 241, 246.

v"The loss of the German Church must be admitted to be at

least 5,000,000, and the causes of the leakage are more activethan ever in the first decade of the twentieth century."-Idem,p.226.

VI"It cannot be many years before a Combes and a Combist

party come to power in Belgium. The country is rapidly ripea-ing for them. It is no longer 'a Catholic country' except inthe sense that about half its men and the greater part of itswomen and children are Catholic. But most of them are Catholiconly in virtue of the momentum of a long un-questioned tradition,and the modem challenge of it is ringing through all their townsand echoing in their villages. The movement amongst themsufficiently shows that they will answer as France has answered."-Idem, p. 275.

VII

"No monks or nuns--the Jesuits and similar asscciationsare not monks-can own any property, either individually orcollectively. To do so would be, in their belief, the most deatUysin they can commit. Who, then, is the owner of the propertythey hold 1 . . . For practical legal purposes one or two monks,or one or two discreetly chosen laymen-frankly described by


French canonists as prete-nollls-lend their names as legalowners, though it is well understood that this is a mere fiction.Conveyance, etc., is prudently conducted through Catholicsolicitors in burlesque fashion. I have in this way bought andsold thousands of pounds' worth of property for a few pence(which never changed hands) in the heart of London. If legalprocesses arise, the monks present themselves on oath as the legalowners." They are indeed enjoined by papal decrees that they"may with a clear conscience affirm, even on oath, that theyintended to acquire the ownership and the right to dispose atwill of the property in their possession according to the normaltenor of the civillaw."-Idem, pp. 35, 36.

VIn"A comparison between Vaticanism and Anarchism would

appear at first sight to be preposterous. Nevertheless, extremesnot infrequently meet, and, just as the Anarchist is bound byhis principles to declare himself as belonging to no individualnationality, so, according to the theories lately propounded bythe Voce della Verittl-that journal which bears upon its title-page the distinction of being the " Giornale della Societd PrimariaRomana per gl'interessi Oattolici " - they who wish to beconsidered "good catholics" must indulge in no such crime aslove for their country.

" The following passage occurs in one of a series of articles onNationalism which has very recently been published by the Vocedella Verita as a reprimand to those English Roman Catholicswho had dared to resent in a public manner the vile calumniesheaped upon their country and their race by the Vatican Press.I will give the translation of this remarkable passage, leaving itto my readers to judge for themselves whether the doctrine in-culcated therein be not as pernicious to society as those advancedby Anarchist fanatics :-

"It is necessary that all Catholics, to whatever class theymay belong, should provide themselves with a heart resembling

ApPENDIX 361

the sea, which does not distinguish between one river and another.From whatever quarter they (the rivers) flow into it, the seawelcomes them all-be they Tiber, Tagus, Seine, Rhine, Rhone,Thames, or Danube.-The immediate result of the possession ofsuch a heart will be that every individual must look with suspicionupon that affection which he may entertain for his own people.He must reflect that when the Lord ordained a true minister ofthe Gospel and a perfect Christian, the first thing which herequired of him was immediately to destroy every special affectionwhich he might possess for his relatives, his country, and hisrace."-The National Review, May 1900, Anglophobia at theVatican, by Richard Bagot pp, 409, 410.

IX

Much to the point is the following pa"sage, written by Mr.Ruskin's father :-

tI It was, moreover, a strange logic that begot UIC idea ofadmitting Catholics to administer any part of OUl' laws or con-stitution. It was admitted by all that, by the very act ofabandoning the Roman religion, we became a free and enlightenedpeople. It was only by throwing off the yoke of that slavishreligion that we attained to the freedom of thought which hasadvanced us in the scale of society. 'Ve are so much advancedby adopting and adhering to a reformed religion, that to proveour liberal and unprejudiced views, we throw down the barriersbetween the two religions, of which the one is the acknowledgedcause of light and knowledge, the other the cause of darknessand ignorance. ,"Ve are so much altered to the better for leavingthis people entirely, and giving them neither part nor lot amongstus, that it becomes proper to mingle again with them. Wehave found so much good in leaving them, that we deem it thebest possible reason for returning to be among them, No fearof their Church again shaking us, with all our light and know-ledge. It is true, the most enlightened nations fell under thespell of her enchantments, fell into total darkness and super-stition; but no fear of us-we are too well-informed! Whatmiserable reasoning! infatuated presumption! I fear me, whenthe Roman religion rolled her clouds of darkness over the earlierages, that she quenched 3S much light, and knowledge, andjudgment as our modern Liberals have ever displayed!

" I do not expect a statesman to discuss the point of Trsnsub-


stantiation betwixt Protestant and Catholic, nor to trace thenarrow lines which divide Protestant sectarians from each other;but can any statesman that shall have taken even a cursory glanceat the face of Europe, hesitate a moment on the choice of theProtestant religion 1 If he unfortunately knew nothing of itsbeing the true one in regard to our eternal interests, he is atleast bound to see if it be not the beat for the worldly prosperityof a people. He may be but moderately imbued with pious zealfor the salvation of a kingdom, but at least he will be expectedto weigh the comparative merits of religion, as of law or govern-ment; and blind indeed must he be if he does not discern that,in neglecting to cherish the Protestant faith, or in too easilyyielding to any encroachments on it, he is foregoing the use ofa state engine more powerful than all the laws which the unin-spired legislators of the earth have ever promulgated, in pro-moting the happiness, the peace, prosperity, and the order, theindustry, and the wealth of a people; in forming every qualityvaluable or desirable in a subject or a citizen; in sustaining thepublic mind at that point of education and information that formsthe best security for the state, and the best preservative for thefreedom of a people, whether religious or political."-The Stonesoj Venice, by John Ruskin, vol, i, Appendix V.

Act, Oa.tholic Disabilities, of1829, 6.Redmond's, of 1909, 11, 285.of Settlement, 10.of Supremacy, 117.

Acton, Lord, on lying, 179.Aliens Act a dead letter, 102.Alva, Duke of, 96, 250.Ambassadors, R.C., 124.Antonelli, Cardinal, 156.

on lying, 178.Armada, 14, 349.Army of Invasion, 98.

Buyine property, 108, 359.Denatfonalised, 117-126, 360.in the field, 127.its unity, 105.Numbers, 101, 104.sent by the Pope, 103.Works in secret, 106.

Arnold of Brescia burned, 49.Arnold, Dr., Blasphemy of Mass, 232,

258.Mission of Christian Church, 186.Papal Ohurch and the rich, 83.Patriotiam, 121.Pope and Jupiter, 228.Satan's tour d'ad.resse, 35, 143,

156, 198, 293.Arthur, Rev. Wm., 338..AnM newspe.per, 1.

Joan of Arc, 74.Assassination of E&abetiJ, H.

Ma.fue Labori, 52.Associations, Law of, 5••Audiences, Papal, 225, 26Ji.Austria, bankrupt state of, 59-67.

Eisenkolb, Dr., 50.Gladstone on, 60.Growth of Proteetantism in, 64.

INDEX

Austria-conti?l1Uld.Italy's Eternal Enemy, 322.Los von Rom, 62.Once slave of Church, 61.

Azeglio, Massimo [d'], 28.Catholics, unf,atriotic, 130.Chlll'ch 'V. Re igion, 35.DisLlCllsation for debt, 182.011 F unerals, 72.Heaven sold for gold, 70.Sanctuaries and brigands, 2117.

Bagot on hatred of England, 327,36(J.

Bambino, Santo, 32.Bankruptcy of Church, 20, 358.

in Austria, 59, 359.in Belgium, 67, 359.Farini on, 23.in France, 50, 358.in Germany, 67,359.Impels to Invasion, 20.in Italy, 24, 28, 358.Moral,34.in Portugal, 67.in Spain, 67.

Becket concealinll Host, 238.his handkerchief, 144.perjuring himself, 176.

Belgiojoso, Princess, 38 .Benigni, Monsi~or, 267.

I Bible, The, advice to Scholars regard.ing, 354.

B. and F. B. Sooiety, 65, 162.Burned, 163.Catholic Schools, 194.Ohildren instructed ill, 355.Christ in, 356.in Ireland, 166.

364Bible, The-continued.

M. Michel and the, 347.Pope's Cateohism and the, 165.Reading forbidden, 159, 1M.Ruskin on, 346.Sequestered, 222.Vaughan on the, 348.Westcott on the, 169, 347.Withheld from people, 161.

Bixio, General Nino, 32.Bolsena, Miracle of Wafer, 247.Bomba, Pius IX. and, 21.

Gladstone and, 22.Bonghi, Prof., on Temporal Power,

317.Books, prohibited, 155, 161.

Religious Text, 194,201, 279,281,340.

Bourne, Archbishop, on Press, 273.Bovio, Prof., Christ at Vatican door,

129.Bradford, the Martyr, 259.Brescia, Arnold of, 49.Briosehi's Report on Education, 301.Bruno, Giordano, 49, 336.Bull, John, Asleep, 70.

Cartoon, 1.Plundered, 87."Wake up!" 19, 97, 139, 198,

262.Bulls, Papal, for the Dead, 74, 80.

In (Jrena Domini, 13.Meat, 74.Thieves, 74.

Bunyan, John, Lord Will-be· will,123.

Town of Mansoul, 123, 142, 172,348.

Cadorna, General, 32.Campaign, Plan of, 140.Campa.nella on Priests and dying

persons, 77.Catechism of Perseverance, 255.

Pope's, 75, 134, 164, lUi, 242.Shorter, 355.

Oavour, Count, on Italian Confedera-tion, 28.

Free Church in Free State, 78,291,337,342.

Moral bankruptcy of Church, 34.and Napoleon, 129.on Pope's Army, 36.on Priest's Power, 148.

INDEX

Cavoul'-CO'I~inved.Protestant Relatives, 206.

Celibacy, Doctrine of, 200.Immorality caused by, 201, 204.

Oesare [de], Army of the Pope, 36.Bomba and Pope, 32.Immorality of Cardinals, 205.Influence of Protestant women,

206.Massacre of Perugia, 37.Papal severity to patriots, 38, 39,

40.Protestant Churches in Rome, 223,

295.Roman Newspapers, 156.Rome and dirt, 149."Sack of Vipers," 31.Temporal Power, 42.Women spies, 40.

Children lost to Church, 48.corrupted, 195, 204.

Chiniquy, Father, 199.Christ, subject of Bible, 356.Clark, Dr. A. W., on Austria,

63.Clemengeau on Church, 50, 56.

Law of separation, 55.Colonial Journalists, 345.Combes, Church Domination, 53.

Concordat broken, 50.Pope helps, 56.

Commandments altered, 75, 301.Confessional, corrupting, 203.

Criminal, 77.Damage to family, 204.Manual for, 255.a Political Agency, 51.Spain forsakes it, 67.

Conquest, England decided upon, 1.Impelling cause of, 20, 319.Gladstone's Warning, 3.Manning on, 11.Prayer for its success, 15.Spain's attempt at, 98.Weapons for, 17.

(J0f'P'U8Domini, 248, 261.(J1Wia Romana, 22, 25.

Dale on Protestantism, 350.Dante on Popes, 189.Declaration, Royal, 307.

Mutilation of, 308.Demoralizing influence of Church,

198,834.

Denationalized Army, 117.Catholics, all, 360.Monks, 122.Pope, 126.

Dickens on Purgatory, 79.on Jesuits, 99.

Disabilities Acts, Continental, 336.0£1829, 6.Italian, 78, 114.Lecky on, 291.Nature of, 306.Redmond's, 11, 285.Wanted in England, 344, 36l.

Dragon of the Revelation, 168, 316.Dryden quoted, 1.Duty, Catholic idea of, 179.

For the present crisis, 353, 354.

EaIlter Communion Tickets, 296.Education, clerical, 195, 198, 299.

Brioschi's report on, 301.Lay, 340.

Elizabeth, Queen, Assassination of,14.

Catholics in time of, 99, 117.and Pius, 9, 11, 14.

Ellis on Genius, 190.England deceived, 335.Erasmus, Becket's handkerchief, 144.

Meat Bull, 74.New Testament, 168.

Erne, Lord, and Archbishop Tait,215.

Eucharist, Liberalia and, 238.Procession, 236, 305.Riots at Processions, 239.Sacrament of the, 236, 246.Yenice Congress, 240.Worshipped,257.

Family deterioration, 199, 343.Children estranged, 210.

Priests ruin life of, 209.Jesuit in the, 214.Priests masters in, 205.Protestantism purifies, 206.

Farini, Luigi Carlo, Letter to Glad-stone, 23.

Minister to Victor Emmauuel II.,28.

Minister to Pope, 20.Prisons in Roman States, 296.Uncle murdered, 25.

Finali, Gasparo, 1.7.

INDEX 365

Francis Joseph, King Humbert'svisit to, 60.

Invasion of Italy proposed, 318,322.

his superstition, 66.Free Church in Free State, 78, 291,

337,342.Froude, Act of Supremacy, 117.

Becket carrying Host, 238.Becket's Tomb, 144.Church and money, 71.Expulsion of Jesuits, 118.Fight for Temporal Power, 319.Laws of State and Church, 13l.Loyola and New Testament, 168.Luther and Rome, 150.Monastery of St. Albans, 153.Newman, 187.Papal murders, 249.Pius v., 13.Priests punished, 204.Tolerance, 335.'I'ransubstantiation, 247.

Fruits of Papal system, 283.Funerals, d'Azeglio on, 72.

Prices of, 73.

Gaeta, Pope and Bomba, 2l.Gambetta, Danger of Clericalism, 51,

53.Garibaldi against Confederation, 28.

Monastic Barracks, Illi.in Southern Italy, 148.

George, Lloyd, and Old Age Pensions,88.

Germany, Catholics in revolt, 67.Tool of Papacy, 323.

Gioberti on Confederation, 29.on Pope at Gaeta, 23.

Gladstone, Bomba's Government, 22.all Catholics are Italian Citizens,

113.on Cavonr, 130.Church destroys mental vigour,

190.Civil liberty, 138, 286.Disabilities Acts, 33i.Farini's letter to, 23.Italy's generosity, 114.on Manning, 188.on Manning's want of truth, 178.on Newman, 310.Object of Vatican Decrees, G.Pope and English acres, 8.3.

366 INDEX

Gladstone-continued. I Ireland-continued.Popedom menace to Italy, 3. Governed by Priests, 66, 85.nusty tools, 18. Immorality in, 183.Sin to enter Papal Church, 352. Industrial Schools, 87.Temporal Power, 33,43, 131, 317, Old Age Pensions, 88.

321. Plundered by Priests, 86, 93.Gold, Heaven bought with, 70. Sport in, 192.

John Bull's, wanted, 26, 70-97, Irving, Washington, Spaniards in319. Sonth America, 118.

Good Shepherd convents, 89, 92. Italy, Austria, her enemy, 322.Gospel, Duty of preaching, 353, 354. Catholic traitors in, 130.Gospels Burned, 163. Church bar.krnpt in, 24, 28, 358.

of Lasserre, 160. and England's peril, 3.St. Jerome, 161. Host Processions, 261.Studied by Italians, 207. Immorality of priests in, 205.Vilified, 161. and Protestantism, 207.

Granvelle on Vatican Press, 266. Warning to England, 3,19, 115,Power to burn heretics, 287. 171, 237, 241, 263.

Guicciardini, Count, 207.Gulland, John, on Austria, 62.Gnyot on confessional, 51.

Henry VIlI., 11.Heretics, murder of, 287, 289.Hocking, Rev. J., on Press, 272,

274.Hodge, Dr., on Christ's Kingdom,

128.Holy Shop, Pope's, 75, 225.Home desecrated by priests, 210.Hoodwinking British Travellers,

222.Hooper on the Mass, 259.Horton, Dr., on Press, 278, 280.Hudibras quotation, 27, 313.Humbert, King, Assassination of,

42.on Italian Unity, 31.Visit to Vienna, 60.

Huss, John, betrayed, 176.

Index &pv,rgatorius, 155,161.Infallibility, Doctrine of, 42.Intellectual Deterioration, 154.

of Manning, 188.of Newman, 187.

Invasion, military, 313, 328.Date of, 329.Defence against, 331.Effects of, 232.

Invasion, Papal, 108.Papal army of, 98.

Ireland, Bible in, 166.Convent Schools, 197.

James I. breaking his word, 177.J esuits in Austria, 65.

in the Family, 214.Head of the, 227, 327.in Jersey, 109.Secret Instructions of, 175, 213.SUP{'reBsingGospels, 162, 222.TypIcal, 195.

Joan of Arc beatified, 74.Jupiter, The Pope and, 228.

Kaiser, Friend of Pope, 324.Visit to Pope, 325.

Labori, MaItre, 52.Lambrnschini studying Gospels,

207.Lasserre's Gospels, ] 60.Law of Associations, 54.Lecky, Church a State within a

State, ]25, 127.on Disabilities Acts, 291.

Lepicier on Church and State,287. .

Levoni, Don R., Church and LowerClaeses, 44, 49.

St. Expedite, isr.on St. Jerome Society, 162.

Liberalia, Festival of, 237.Liberty, Religions, secured, 342.Liguori's Moral Theology, 195, 201,

204.Los von Rom, 62, 64.Loubet's visit to King of Italy, 43,

56.

Luther on Celibacy, 20I.plot to murder, 177.on Rome, 150.saying Mass, 252.on Tetzel, 182.

Lying, Lord Acton on, 179.Cardinal Antonelli on, 178.

Macaulay, Lord, Jacobin prayer, 18.M'Cabe, Decay of Church, 358.M'Carthy, Justin, Wiseman's Let-

ter, 7.M'Carthy, Michael, Priests and

Sport, 192.M'Crie, Dr., Persecution in Italy,

12.Madonna, England given to, 8, 1'20.

evil influence of, 277.Sodality of children of, 8.

Macguire, Dr., on Home Rule, 306.Maita, Asylum for Pope, 177.Manning, Church above State, 128,

286,293.on Conll.uost of England, 4, 9, 25.on Continental war, 320.on Coronation Oath, 311.intellect lowered, 188.Oath of Allegiance altered, 11.want of truth, 178.

Mariano, Prof., 351.Marriage Bureaux, 84.

by Church illegal, 46.Encrclical, 47, 342.forbidden degrees, 76.mixed,298.

Mass, blasphemy of, 232, 258.Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 13,

251, 312.of the Loire, 249.in the Netherlands, 250, 281.at Perugis, 37.

Massage, "Priest is God," 254.Priest is obstaole to religion, 278.

Masses, market for, 8I.means of Iivelihood, 71, 182.mockery, 252.prices of, 182.how the Pope says them, 228,

252.Maxse, on House of the Good Shep-

herd, 89, 92-Mazzini, Papal Religion extinguished,

28.Modernism, Pius x, on, 158.

INDEX 367

Monasteries, abolished in Italy,340.

at Assisi, 16.inspected abroad, 65, 68.sites best in England, 115.The Times on, 57, 107.uninspected in England, 115.wealth of, 299.

Monks and N UDS, their number, 100.work in secret, they, 106.

Montalembert'll Dictum, 78, 337.Morandi, Comm., 40.Motley, Alva bloodthirsty, 25I.

Alva goldthirsty, 96.massacre in Netherlands, 250.

Mum, Don Romolo, 131.

Napoleon nr., 28, 30, 129.NatiO'1U11 lIe1JUW quoted, 51, 53,

89, 107, 360.Now Penal Code, 78, 114, 341.Newman, Catholic pledges, 309.

Deteriorated by Romaniam, 187.and soil of Rome, Hi1.on Vatican Decrees, 6.

Newspapers, Catholic F.ditol'll or,268.

only one in Papal Rome, 157.Pope proprietor of, 264.Vatican news, 265.

Nigra, Count, 34, 36.NUDS, begging, 84.

of the Good Shepherd, 89, 92.and protestant children, 39.at Scarborough, 210.

Oath of Allegiance, mutilated, 10.Bishop's, 137.Coronation, 10, 306, 310.

Obedience, Papal, 106.O'Donnell, F. H., on Convent teach-

ing, 87.ruin of Education, 87.Supremacy of the Church, 288.

Old Age Pensions, 88.Oratory, Brompton, 15.Orsi, Prof., 4, 186.

Papal Audiences, 225, 265.Bulls, 13, 74, 80.Guarantees, 113, 125.Invasion, 103.Obedience, 106.System, fruits of, 283.

368 INDEX

Pasolini, on Italy's Allies, 322. Pope Pius Ix,-continued.on Pius IX" 20, 41, 192. and Santa Scala, 32.on Sport, 345. Pius x., Audiences, 226.

Patriotism, 121. and British Travellers, 224.Persecution in Austria, 59. his Catechism, 134.

in England, 305. Character, 227.in France, 249. helper to Combes, 56.Foreign to Protestantism, 336. and Modernism, 158.in Italy, 36, 40. and his Mass, 262.

Peru, Religious state of, 163, 184. on Protestant Bible, 164.Perugia, Massacre of, 37. sends Congregations to England,Peter's Pence, 69, 78, 81. 103.Philip II.,Armada, 14. and St. Jerome Society, 162.

Indian's gold, 26. and Temporal Power, 43.and William of Orange, 177. and Vulgate Revision, 163.and the Netherlands, 250. Pope's Dunciad, quotation, 98.

Pledges, Catholic, value of, 310. Priests, and Lord Erne, 215.Poerio, Mother's grief, 40. Exaltation of, 253.Pope Clement vn., 9, 11, 176. in the Family, 205, 209.

Gregory VII. on celibacy, 200. Idea of liberty, 336.Gregory XVI., 29. Immorality of, 185, 201, 204,Hildebrand on Transubstantia· 278.

tion, 245. Increased numbers in England,Innocent nr., idem, 246. 100, 106.Julius III., idem, 245. as Judges, 297.Leo. x., on Lying, 177. Traitors, 118, 129, 130.Leo XIU. and Lasserre's Gospels, Prince of Wales, 1.

160. Processions, Eucharistic, 236, 340.Paul IV., 12, 155. in Italy, 260.Pius IV., 12. Liberalia, 237.Pius Y., his character, 73. Pagan, 241.

English Catholics' champion, Acts of Worship, 242.11, 17. Protestant Churches in Rome, 223,

Manning's saint, 9, 15. 295.Persecutor, 12. Defenders of England, 349.Sick people and priest law, 77. I Influence on makers of Italy,

Pius IX., dread of knowledge, I 206.158. Succession threatened, 308, 310.

England ecclesiastically divided Purgatory, Dean Alford on, 80.by,6. Bulls, 74.

flight to Gaeta, 21. Dickens on, 79.and Italian Confederation, 29. Latimer on, 80.loses Temporal Power, 33.and Malta ruse, 178.Massacre of Perugia, 37.and measures for defence of

Rome, 32.Non p08lJ'UmWl, 29.as Persecutor, 36.prohibits newspapers, 156.Protestants in Rome, 222, 295.Punch's description of, 41.Returns to Rome, 23.and Santo Bambino, 32,

Ransford, Canon, 254.Rattazzi, Urbano, 28.Redmond on Coronation Oath, Il.Reformation of Church impossible,

152.Crushed in Italy, 12.in England, 17, 140, 344.

Religious Orders (see Monasteries).Ricasoli, Baron, and the .. Christian

Brethren," 207.and French Government, 177.

Ricasoli-continued.Half Protestant, 208.and Italian Confederation, 28.Italian Premier, 30.Religious Question, 34.Power of Thought, 170.

Ridley, Martyr, 295.Riots, Bread, 42.

in Carrara, 41.in En~land and Ireland, 305.in Sicily, 41.

Ripon, Lord, and Assisi, 16.Roberts, Lord, his Warning, 329.Robertson of Brighton on Mass,

246.Superstition, 179.

Rogers, Samuel, 32, 282.Rome, dirty, 149.

Immorality of, 150.Ladies, English, in, 206.Newspapers, 157.Travellers, British, in, 222.

Ruskin on Bible, 346.Church, Intellectual Palsy of,

189.Church, Plague of, 363.Priests, 106.Virtues, 175.War, 333.

Ruskin's Father quoted, 361.Russell, Lord John, 7, 178.Russell, Mr. Odo, 178.

St. Angelo, Castle of,16, 81.St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 13,

251, 312.St. Jerome Society, 161, 162.Santa Bottega (see Holy Shop).Saints' Days, 73, 74, 81.Sarpi,49.Satan'e tour d'adrll886, 36, 143, 156,

198,294.Savonarola, 49.Scarborough Convent, 211.Sehonerer, r»; 62.Schools, Catholic, in England, 194-

197, 356.in Ireland, 87, 166, 197.in Italy, 165, 196, 301, 340.

Separation, Law of, 64, 55.September XX., 249.Settlement, Act of, 10.Shakeapeare, 349.Shaving forbidden, 308.

24

INDEX 369

Shelley, 127, 154.Sins classified, 176.Smith. Adam, 144.Spain, Church bankrupt in, 67.

Indiaus and, 118.Speech, Free, suppressed, 283,

343.Sport, 192, 345.Superstitution, Erasmus on, 144.

Robertson of Brighton on, 180.Supremacy, Act of, 117.

Oath of, 10.Royal, attacked, 7.

Tablet, The, 68, 132, 230, 271.'fait, Archbishop, in Ireland, 215.

Shorter Catechism, 355.Temporal Power, 20, 26, 28, 83, 42,

44.Ronghi on, 317.Crispi on, 317.England obstacle to, 319.Gladstone on, 131, 317, 321.Manning on, 318, 320.War to obtain it, 320.

Text.Books, Religious, 194, 201,279,281, 340.

Theatres mn by Ohurch, llll.Times, TM, 2, 57, 107, 248.Tivaroni, 6.Toleration, Papal, 223, 239.Transubstantiation, Bolsena Miracle,

247.Origin of dogma, 245.why held to, 250, 253.

Unification of Italy, 28, 31.Untruthfulness of Oatholics, 176,

178, 218, 221.

Vanutelli, Cardinal, 238.Vatican, 16, 22,24,112.

Storm-centre, a, 315.Vatican Decrees, by Gladstone, 5,18,

187.Vaticanism, by Gladstone, 5, 6, 44,

188, 190.Vaughan, Dr., 348.Vaugh au, Cardinal, Perfect Society,

293.Press and, 272.

Victor Emmanuel II., 3, 28, 30,35, 46, 65, 66, 110, 148, 208,339.

370

Victor Emmanuel III., 43, 56.Virtues Classified, 175.Voce della Verita, 360.Vulgate, Revision of, 163.

Waldeck-Rousseau, 53.Warham, Archbishop, 131.Warning, Italy's, 3, 19, 115, 171,

241,263.Warnz, Father, the Black Pope,

227, 327.

INDEXWestcott, Dr., on Bible, 164, 168,

347.Westminster Cathedral, 262.White, Dr. Andrew, 23, 82, 313.William and Ma1'l,' 18.Williamson, David, 20, 101, 109.Wiseman, Cardinal, 7, 24.Wordsworth, Dr., Brompton Prayer,

15.

Zanardelli, Premier, 341.

MOMAN & SCOTT LTD., LONDOII', E.~GLASn.

By TilE REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, D.D.

EXTRACTS FROM SOME OFTHE PRESS OPINIONS UPON

The Roman Catholic Churchm Italy.

"THOSE who are disposed to give a patronising countenance toRomanism in our favoured land, should read, mark, learn, and inwardlydigest 'The Roman Catholic Church in Italy.' After a historicretrospect, in which the blighting influences of Romanism are realisticallydescribed, Dr. Robertson gives us chapters on the Pope, the Priest, theChurch, Confession, Monasticism, etc. From first to last these institutionshave wrought evil in Italy, and as a result measures have been taken tosave the people from their influence. This is emphatically a hook for thetime. It exhibits to view the religious idolatry and gross superstition ofRomanism, as well as its political treachery and social mischief- making,and ever with outspoken fidelity and force."-The Christian.

" Probably the most sensational exposure of Popery in Italy during thenineteenth century."-English Churckman.

"We recommend this book as a valuable contribution to our knowledgeof ecclesiastical affairs in Italy, not the less valuable because so full ofpain for all who desire the advance of pure religion and undefiled."

Methodist Times." This is undoubtedly a strong indictment against the Romish Church."

Daily News."Leaves us perplexed at the end of it all how such a monstrous

institution has been tolerated on earth so long."-Daily Ckronicle."While there are evident signs that the author desires not to be unfair,

his book is a tremendous indictment of Roman Catholicism."Ckristial1 World.

"No more serious attack on the Roman Church has ever been deliveredthan this. It is a book which will make people think."-Public Opinion.

OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.

LONDON: MORGAN AN D SCOTT LTD.[2, PATE R NOS T E R B U I LDI NGS. E.C.

The RomanChurch in

CatholicItaly.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Cloth, Six Shillings.

EMPHATICALLYa book for the time. The re-ligious and political treachery of the system areexhibited with bold fidelity. Dr. Robertson writesnot from a doctrinal or a ceremonial point of view,but from that of the Church's influence on Italianindividual and national character and life. Hesays: (( My object in writing this book is twofold.In the first place, I wish to help to extend amongstEnglish-speaking people a knowledge of how theRoman Catholic Church is regarded by the Italianpeople and Government. My second object is topersuade people to view the Roman Catholic Churchas the Italians view it. I am convinced that it isthe true and right way, the wise and prudent wayof looking at it."

OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.

LONDON: MORGAN AND SCOTT LTD.12, PATERNOSTER B'UILDINGS, E.C.

the papal conquest

Documents

sir godfrey

roman catholic

roman catholic

roman catholic

john bull

pope pius

roman church

cardinal wiseman