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SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
BDITORIAL OPimOWS OF TBI LBADINO JOURNALS
PrOR COBBIKT TOPICS COMPILED BVBBT
DAT FOB TH1 BVBRWO TBLBOBAFB.
Thi Mchtr Exacutlona.
Fi om the N. Y. IVibune.
In its treatment of the Irish question the
British Government has made no blander
more serious within the present generation
than in hanging the three Fenians Allen,
' Larkin, and Gould. These men had under
taken to rescue some of their comrades from
the hands of the police. In the struggle one
Of the officers was shot. The crime wa3 clearly
brought home to Allen, and there was strong
presumption of the guilty complicity of the
others, though the proof, so far as it bore upon
them, was not direct. In the eye of the law
the deed of course was murder. We grant
that it ought to be so regarded, though we
may question what degree of moral criminality
attached to these unfortunate follows, who
acted in all probability from an honest albeit
unreasoning patriotism, and had no feeling of
animosity towards the man they killed, no
desire even to take his life. We grant that
the jury had no pretext to find any verdict
but one of guilty, and the judge no power
to impose any other sentence than the
one which has been carried out. 13ut punish
ments are juBt and wise not so far as they are
proportioned to the offense, but so far as they
are salutary to the public, ' The penalties iu
flioted by human tribunals ought to be not
Vindictive but exemplary. Yengeauce is the
prerogative of the Almighty; we have to do
only with the welfare and protection of society.
The opponents of capital punishment condemn
it because, however richly it may be deserved,
they believe that it invariably does harm to
the community. Now? can anybody believe
that the effect of the triple execution in Man
chester will be other than unmitigated evil ?
Can anybody supDose that the peace of the
United Kingdom will be more secure, the lives
of publio Jofficers safer, the spirit of Ireland
more tranquil or more timorous, because the
law has avenged itself upon these three poor
Wretches T
The execution of Allen, and Larkin, and
Gould is the most important reinforcement
. that Fenianism has yet received. The cause
wanted nothiDg so much as a martyr; now it
. baa three. The people had very nearly lost
confidence in their leaders; they had ceased in
a measure to give their earnings for prepos
terous campaigns and abortive insurrections;
their rebellion was dwindling down into a sort
, of guerilla warfare, sustained only by the most
.headstrong and desperate of their number.
- Now it is ten chances to one if the name is
not kindled again. Confidence may not re
vive, but enthusiasm will; and enthusiasm
with the Irish is the most powerful of im
pulses. The Manchester prisoners will in
spire their countrymen with a bitterer hos
tility towards England by their deaths than
they ever could have inspired by their lives.
Robert Emmet did more harm to Great Britain
by being hanged than he did by his Dublin
insurrection. If he had been pardoned,' or
simply imprisoned, his countrymen in after
years would have remembered him! for his'
failure; now they are elevated and inspired by
mo memory ui iua Heroism, suppose Smith
O'Brien or John Mitchell had been executed
after the rebjllion of 1848; their names would
" . have been worth more lo the next rising than
' hundreds of armed men. What are their names
worth now? If the .sentence of these Man
chester Fenians had been commuted to a long
imprisonment,, and if then, at some not very
distant day, they had been set at liberty by a
general amnesty, their power for mischief
would have been effectually destroyed, aud a
good effect might have been produced upon
Irish sentiment. Now Irish rancor has been
intensified, and the three men in their graves
are more dangerous than ever before. Popular
heroes are never so much to be feared as when
they have gone to that other world where
their frailties are concealed from us, leaving
behind them the glamour of patriotic profes
sions, and of sufferings endured in the name
of their cause.
The Bondholder Before Congrats.
From the N. Y.-JIerald. .
The firBt day of the adjourned session of
Copg?ess did not pass over without a move
ment being made in "that body in favor of the
bondholders, Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, ".in
troduced a joint resolution in the Senate de
? Glaring that the faith and credit of the Govern
ment were pledged to redeem the publio debt
in coin or its equivalent, that the debt is owing
in coin or its equivalent, and that Congress
thereby pledged the United States to make
payment accordingly. The resolution was
read, laid on the table, and ordered to be
printed. Mr. Edmunds gave notice that he
should call it up at an early day, and said he
hoped it would be passed with entire unanimity.
Wj notice, too, from our Washington corre
spondence of the 24th inst., that the sub
ject of national finance was the absorbing one,
and that members of both houses of Congress
are preparing to discuss it. ' It is evident, also,
from the letter of Thaddeus Stevens, endorsing
one from John Law, of Indiana, on the ques
tion of paying the debt in greenbacks, that
the great radical leader of the House is paying
particular attention to this subject. Altogether,
we may expect to have, early in the session, a
Tery full discussion of our national finanoes.
Mr. Edmunds fired the first gun in the great
fight coming on between the bondholders and
the tax-payers about the national debt, and it
comes from the bondholding side. There is no
difficulty in divining the nature and object of
. this hasty action in the Senate. Public opinion
in favor of paying the debt, or a large portion
Vf.it, iu legal-tenders, has been growing rapidly
of late, aud the bondholders are very anxious,
evidently, to forestall or head that off by some
action lu Congress. It is an effort to get a sort
Of snap judgment on the question before the
people have acquired clear ideas on it. There
is, however, another side Uthis question, aud
we think the Senator from Vermont will not
carry Lis resolution with that unanimity he
professes to anticipate. There is a great deal
of ignorance in Congress on the subject, it is
true; but as it has been introduced it wil nnw
- be well ventilated. SWnft&fZ&fZ
urred last spring and winter in Congress and
,. from the current of publ" opiuloS, there 1,
: reason to believe the resolution will uiedt with
' Considerable opposition, at least in the House
. of Representatives. ISut whatever the result
' may be, the action of this .Congress cannot
- Ljud that of future Congress if it ,d tn)J
Wiirof the ptoplo to pay thelebt,or a portion
of it, in lawful money while that is tU cur
rency of the country. 1
Mr. Edmunds assumes too inn eh when he
Says "the debt was contracted or incurred, ex
cept where specially provi,iet niiiuvist), upon
the faith and credit of the l.'nitod states that
the same should be paid or redeemed in coin
or its equivalent." The contrary is the) oas
THE DAILY EVENING TiajCGKArn-rmLADELPIIIA, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2G, 18G7.
Wherever it was intended to bind the Govern
ment to pay the prinoipal in coin, that is ex
pressly provided for in the law and mentioned
on the bonds. There is a small amount of
securities of this kind. The greater part of
the debt and we may mention the Five
twenties particularly carry no such obliga
tion on them. It was not an accident or over
sight on the part of Congress, when creating
this portion of the debt, in omitting to say in
what the bonds should be paid. There was a
clear understanding and purpose in not saying
they should be paid in coin or its equivalent.
It was intended they should be paid in what
ever might be the currency or lawful money
at the time of payment, whether paper or
specie. The chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means aud the leader of the domi
nant party in the House, Mr. Stevens, expli
citly states this to be so, and he made expla
nations to that effect at the time the Five
twenty bill was discussed. How can Mr. E 1
mund3 or any one else, in the face of these
facts, say that the Government is pledged to
pay this portion of the debt in ooin or its equi
valent f Thus far, then, as to the law. The
bondholders have no legal claim to be paid in
coin cr its equivalent. The Government can
Buit its convenience and the welfare of the
country in raying at maturity or buying up
previously the debt in whatever money it
chooses to use for that purpose.
But the bondholders say they have a just
and equitable claim to be paid in coin, what
ever the law or face of their bonds may ex
press or fail to express. They talk a great
deal about the honor of the Government and
its credit. We are quite sure the credit of the
Government will be preserved bettor by pay
ing off the debt as rapidly as possible while
the currency is depreciated than by perpe-.
tuating it. Should specie payments be forced
there would be a poor prospect of liquidating
the debt. It would become a perpetual bur
den, like the debt of England, and we should
be in danger of repudiation. No, the way to
preserve the credit of the Government is to pay
the debt as rapidly as possible while the cur
rency is abundant and depreciated. As to the
equity of the case, it is the height of presump
tion to talk of that. The claim is usurious
and extortionate. These bondholders gave
the Government fifty or sixty in paper for
their bonds, and now demand a hundred in
coin. Where is the equity or Justice in that 1
Justice is not one-sided. Something is due to
the people to the overburdened taxpayers
as well as to the bondholders. All debtors are
paid in lawful currency; the courts of law
compel them to receive that, no matter when
or in what debts were contracted. Why,
then, should there be one rule for the
bondholders and another for all the rest of the
people f
But the Shylock bondholders say, force im
mediate specie payments in order that we may
be paid in specie cvrrency. That is just what
they mean and are aiming at. The people and
statesmen say we want to get rid of a portion
of the tremendous burden first. If the bonds
were paid at their present market value, the
holders would get much more than the Gov
ernment received for them; still the people
would willingly pay that. - They will hardly
consent to pay forty or fifty per cent, more if
it can be avoided. There ia no disposition to
take advantage of the bondholders by inflat
ing tb.0 currency beyond measure and bringing
down- their bonds to a low figure; but, if we
mistake not, there is a growing determination
not to force up the bonds by immediate re
sumption, and thus to favor a few capitalists at
the expense of the rest of the community. The-
uouutry win anxjousiy watch the conduct of
Congress with regard to this very important
matter. . . .
i . . .
Repudiation In. Dligulae.
From the National American.
Immediately upon the organization of the
Federal Government, the men and mind of the
country had a doubtful ' conflict to wage with
the mob and its demagogues. The Revolution
had left a debt upon the people, as great rela
tively to their resources as the debt of the late
rebellion is to us and our existing means for
meeting it. But it was not only the amount of
the debt of Independence, like the amount Of
our present burden, which, in Washington's
phrase, was "terrible;" but its character or
claims were held to be questionable. It had
been, contracted at war prices; some of it at
continentalnoney prioes, and the certificates '
or evidences bad passed from the hand of the
original or "meritorious" holders into those of
capitalists, who had purchased them at enor
mous rates of discount. Out of these indis
putable facts a plausible sophistry was able to
build a theory of repudiation fit for popular
presentment; just as a popular murder gets
itself softened down to justifiable homicide,
when the victim is odious aud the slayer is the
exponent of popular passion. Nor was legal
authority wanting in support of resistance to
the odious imposition. No part of the domestio
debt had as yet been funded, or assumed by the
new government. It had all been in a round
of exchange, a sort of lumbering currency,
transferred Irom the hands of the necessitous
to those who had more means, and faith
enough in its ultimate redemption, to offer
anything for it, and must the shameful story
be told 1 , Thomas Jwfferson, Secretary , of
State, gave Washington his official opinion
that closes in action were not negotiable under "
the common law. For our own protection,
and to render Mr. Jefferson the exactest and
severest justice wt quote his own words:
"By the common law of England the convey
ance of a right to a de'at, whereof the party is
not in possession, is not only void, but severely
punishable under the laws of maintenance aud
champerty ;" adding that bills of exchange
under the law merchant, and notes and bon is,
were the only exceptions to the general rule ;
that in all other cases assignments were void ;
and that the debts of the soldiers not having
been put into either of these forms, were void.
-The exact point at issue is worth stating,
for we are threatened now with a rehearsal of
this great controversy. The soldier, said the
repudiators, who has shod his blood aud
risked his life, and the victualler who has cre
dited the sustenance of the army to Congreas
and to the States, have a inerty in their claims
which the broker of their certificates cannot
claim; and the nation was almost bullied, into;
the repudiation of all domestio debt which was
not still in the hands of the first holders. . f ,
Hamilton insisted that "to vary the rsksJof
parties; to supersede the contracts between
them; to take away a right to a specific thing,
are not less violations of property than direct"
confiscation." His whole argument weut
broadside through Jefferson's cabinet opinion,
and it triumphed. ' Even Jefferson himself ,
at'tei wards assented to the fuuding of the en
tire debt of the country at contract prices, iu
'whatsoever bauds, and irrespective of all the
pretended equities against even the most ob
noxious classes of it; and yet Hamilton, to the
day oi his dath, never got rid of tlm Offense
f-hinst the prejudices of the populace, excited
i,y lh biiccc-m with which he vindicated the
Wylit, and' resultingly the true permanent
interests of the natioa. Are we to have this
chapter of our history over again f aud shall
.wiind;neutuough,.aud they great enough,
for a similar sacrifice in the hour of trial f
Will there be Romebody, whom this people
must hear, to tell them as Hamilton told their
fathers, "That besides the motives of political
expediency, there are arguments that rest on
the immutable principles of moral obligation;
and in proportion as the mind is disposed to
contemplate, in the order of Providence, an
ultimate connection between publio virtue and
publio happiness, will be its repugnance to a
violation of those principles."
We have now an enormous debt, aud op
pressive taxes to provide for its internet aud
for current government expenses. The evi
dences of this debt must, in the nature of
thing, work their way into the hands of those
who have capital to invest at interest. They
were bought for greenbacks at greater or less
rates of depreciation, but the least very con
siderable; these bonds must rise to the par of
gold if their credit and value are not im
peached, and then we shall have some men
who do not kuow any better, and not a few
who intend the worst, to raise the cry either of
payment in a dt-preoiated currency, a forced
reduction of the rate of interest, or total repu
diation, for peace has dangers as great as
war. A national debt is not a national bless
ing, but it need not be a national curse. The
vigorous endurance of a burden strengthens
the bearer; the dishonorable abandonment of
a duty paralyzes the recreant. There is no
burden so heavy as a nation's shame, and no
abuse of reason so shabby and disgraceful as
an attempt to justify it to employ law and
equity in the revolting service of dishonesty.
The best that we can wish for the advocates
of repudiation, in any form or degree, or
under any name, is the submission of Jeffer
son; and the worst, that they shall stand with
him in tho pillory of history to warn the
next generation against the folly and weak
ness and political sin that they are commit
ting. In the first year of Washington's adminis
tration the Government was not able to pay a
dollar of its matured debt, or of the accrued
and accruing interest upon any of its obliga
tions; but it 3 god-fathers, who stood sponsors
for the. political instruction of the infant
nation, boldly undertook for it that it would
maintain the faith pledged in its name, and
from that day it grew in grace and favor with
God and man. "We have them for an en-sample."
Vbe MncliUr Execution Rights of
American viuzeue Auroaa.
From the N. Y. Timet.
The hanging of Allen, Larkin, and Gould
in Manchester, on Saturday, has given three
martyrs, to the Fenian cause. Their blood,
we are already told, "cries aloud for ven
geance." Whatever degree of justice may be
in that cry, no one can deny its sincerity, its
tarnestness, or its probable force. Thousands
on both sides of the Atlantio believe that the
dead had not" a fair trial; and this conviction
prevails widely even among those who have
always condemned the Fenian movement. A
large portion of the Liberal party in Great
Britain demanded a mitigation of the punish
ment; and the feeling which they expressed
in this matter will, no doubt, be shared by
very nearly the whole population of this coun
try. Looking at the black record of Ireland's
wrongs for centuries, we cannot but join with
the Rvform League of Manchester in avowing
a certain sympathy with, and commiseration
for, those who have been goaded into violence
by the accumulated crimes of the British Gov
ernment. '
But sympathy with suffering Ireland is per
ftctly consistent with the hatred of the crimes
of a few thoughtless, misguided Irishmen.
Rescuing two prisoners and shooting a police
man dead in the streets of Manchester had no
direct bearing upon the success of their cause.
It was, indeed, a peculiarly Irish method of
obtaining redress for national grievances. It
was an "advance backwards," for it has alien
ated the feelings of a considerable number of
the most influential members of the Liberal
party in England and Scotland. This aliena
tion, however, will only be temporary, while
the deep impressioij produced by the execu
tion may compel an early settlement in some
way of the two great grievances of Ireland .
the Church establishment and the landlord
oppression. - '
The attacks made npon Secretary Seward
and our representative in England, for their
alleged neglect of duty in the case of Irish
American citizens abroad, hardly deserve seri
ous notice. It is a great pleasure to some
politicians to rant a little about the wrongs of
the Green Isle, and it would be cruel to deny
these gentlemen their staple luxury. Throw
ing aside the personalities in which they in
dulge, we may consider the main question
raised by the recent Fenian trials in Great
Britain, so far as we are concerned. We must
regard the executions in Manchester as Ameri
can citizens, and not as Irishmen. It is only
as American citizens that the Fenians in Great
Britain claim the attention and care of our
Government.
We cannot consistently do more for Irishmen
abroad than for Germans or Frenchmen or
Italians abroad, or for native-born citizens in
like circumstances. Neither can we consis
tently demand foraay of our citizens in foreign
countries any rights or privileges which we
do not concede to foreigners here. : Instead;
then, of passing a resolution of censure npon
our Foreign Secretary or impeaching Mr.
Adams, or doing other foolish things, Congress
would serve the country much better by
ordering an investigation into the laws of
nations upon the subject of expatriations. At
present our Irish born and Irish vote-hunting
politicians eeem to entertain somewhat con
fused notions regarding the rights and duties
of American citizens in foreign countries.
While, however, there is no reason for
doubting the vigilance or fidelity of Mr. Seward
and Mr. Adams in their efforts to protect Ame
rican citizens in Great Britain, we mustcoufess
that her Majesty's Government seem not to
have estimated sufficiently the effect which the
rigorous trial and punishment of adopted citi
zens of this country would produce upon:
public opinion here.. Even the slightest ap
pearance of harshness, should be avoided in the
interest of both countries. We do not say
that actual injustice . has been perpetrated in'
any case, but the impression nevertheless' pre
vails on this side of the Atlantio that more
consideration should have been shown to the
pleas urged by the Irish-American prisoners
in regard to the composition of the juries by
Whom they were tried. Complications grow
ing out of -circumstances of this kind are not
.to be- -disregarded with safety. This country
will never become the apologist of murderers,'
or of,crinie of auy Eort, committed by its citi
zens abroad. ' Hut it will insist that those who
are tntitled to its protection shall obtain what
ever advantage they 'have a right to claim
under the law, without reference to the fears
or the vindictiveiiess of a foreign power.
Debt aud Vexation The Policy. Con
' green.'
From the N. X. Times.
The Convention of manufacturers, to be held
next mouth at Cleveland, promises to be a
departure from the ordinary efforts of or
ganized classes. Usually, these gatherings
have been a prelude to demands on Congress
for seme special form of proteotion. This
time, apparently, the aim is to obtain relief
by a reduction instead of an increase of taxa
tion. Not the tariff but the internal revenue
system is the object of attention; the manu
facturers wisely holding that the depression
and distress of which they complain prooeed
more from the ruinous nature and amount of
taxes levied upon industry and enterprise,
than from "defects in the scale of customs'
duties. Their general view therefore har
monizes with the generaF interest; and though
we must recognize selfishness as the impelling
motive of the movement, at least we 'may avail
ourselves of it as a valuable auxiliary in the
work of fiscal reform. For the men embarked
in it apeak from experience. Their state
ments as to the exhausting effect of the bur
dens imposed are verified by the condition to
which nearly all forms of industry have been
brought. And the succor they pray for will
commend itself to the people by its immediate
bearing upon their pockets.
As a broad principle, perhaps, it is not too
much to insist that in existing circumstances
the amount of taxes levied should be regulated
solely by the current wants of the Govern
ment, without reference to plans for the re
duction of the national debt. The latter pur
pose will be in order when the country shall
have recovered from the effects of the war
when production and commerce shall have
regained prosperity, and when the load conse
quent upon au inflated currency shall have
been lifted off the shoulders of the people.
Time and judicious statesmanship, and a wise
and universal economy, can alone restore the
strength and ease whion should precede the
application of measures for paying the princi
pal of the debt. Meanwhile, these plans are
premature, and, being premature, are neither
wise nor expedient. The questions which
force themselves on every man's attention
pertain to the actual, unavoidable necessities
of the day not to the discharge of liabilities
which will not mature for years to come.
Positive wants require all our attention. The
struggle to live is severe enough, without
adding to it by assuming obligations gratui
tously, for the gratification of some financial
theorist.
If this view is right, the proper measure of
taxation is at present the current expenditure
of the Government plus the interest on the
debt. All taxation imposed for purposes
other than these, being unnecessary, should
l e abolished. And as it is estimated that
the excess of revenue collected under exist
ing laws, above the sum needed for these
purposes, is not less -than $150,000,000, it
follows that Congress, without inconvenience
to the Government or damage to the publio
credit, may reduce the annual aggregate of
taxes to this enormous extent. A vigorous
system of retrenchment would render a still
larger reduction practicable, and such a sys
tem Congress ought to enforce in every de
partment. Leaving possible savings out of
the account, however, there yet remains the
fact ; that on the present basis of revenue and
expenditure $1 50, 000, 000 are collected above
the positive necessities of the oountry. To
this amount, therefore, the tax-payers are en
titled to relief.
As a result of this large reduction, the Trea
sury policy will need essential modification.
With the relief to producers and consumers
which is involved in the reform must come a
temporary stoppage of the debt-paying pro
cess. That must be deferred to a more conve
nient season, which, however, may be ex
pected long in advance oi tne period at which
the bulk of the debt will be due. In another
respect a change is desirable. Just now we
reduce one form of debt with one hand and
increase another form of debt with the other.
Short-time currency debt is all the time being
converted into long-time gold-bearing debt.
Notwithstanding, then, the continued system
of reducing indebtedness, the interest payable
in gold is as constantly increased. There
would be no harm in the substitution if green
backs "and gold were on a level. But with gold
at forty per cent, premium, and with all the
chances of epeculation open, the process cer
tainly cannot be commended as economical.
To convert obligations payable in paper money
into obligations payable in gold, may pass
under the term of funding, but its profitable
ness is past finding out. Its effeot is to in
crease the debt.
Instead of alio wing the holders of the cur
rency debt to convert it into gold bonds at
pleasure, to the manifest injury of the tax
payers, sound policy would seem to require
its redemption with greenbacks when possible,
or its renewal with other short currency obli
gations when necessary. The proper use of
so much of legal-tender currency as the Trea
sury may from time to time command is the
redemption of currency debt; so obviating
the embarrassment incident to contraction
while reducing the debt. The natural order
of finance is just now reversed. We contract
the non-interest bearing debt, while we enlarge
the gold-interest bearing debt; which is at
once unjust and extravagant. By following
the 1 more reasonable course and paying
the currency debt as fast as we cau with
greenbacks, we should steadily improve the
interest account, and at the same time obviate
the contraction which, as now conducted, ope
rates detrimentally by keeping business inte
rests in a state of constant uncertainty. Under
the most careful management, the transition
from an inflated currency to specie payments
will be attended with anxiety and disaster.
But these may be lessened by deferring con
traction until the legal-tender currency Bhall
have fu'iillod its purpose, which is the re
demption of the currency obligations of the
Government. This accomplished, cautious
contraction may be renewed with a safety that
will be increased with the natural growth of
the country in the intervening period.
Whatever policy Congress "may ultimately
adopt, let us hope that its action will be pre
dicated upon a thorough and intelligent ex
amination of the kindred subjects of debt,
taxation, and Currency by the financial com
mittees of both Houses. Doubtless a great
effort will be made to repress individual
zeal. We shall have scores of propositions
relating to the currency by members ho
know nothing of the principles which govern
it; and the same will occ.ur in connection with
taxation and the debt. From these ill-considered
and unauthorized propositions .no
thing but mischief can arise. They will
confuse and alarm, and moreover will un
settle everything. The prudent course will
be to" leave the whole to the respective
committees, whose responsibilities will be a
guarantee of moderation ami intelligence.
Their reports will give definite shape to Con
gressional discussion, and we trust will lead
to comprehensive and mature legislation. In
this way we may possibly obtain a policy
based on some rational and intelligible prin
ciple, substituting the steadiuess of law for
the uncertainty of ollicial opinion, and having
reference to the position and requirements of
the country rather than to the peculiar views
of theorists or the claims of exceptional inte
rests, i
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ENGLISH CABPETINGS.
iw toons or out own importation just arrivfd.
AI.80, A CHOICE SELECTION OF
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The Pop In a Congrees.
From the iV. Y. World.
Every devout reader of the daily telegrams
from Europe ought to pray for a portion of
that eupeptic spirit which enabled Saint Au
gustine to say of the toughest imaginable
dogmas, "credo quia alturdum:" "I believe
this precisely because it ia absurd." With
out some such dispensation of grace it must
be very difficult to keep one's patience or
one's wits in a continuous perusal of the wild
and contradictory stories which the gossips
of London and Faris daily generate to load
the electric wires withal 'and to perplex the
"varsal world." How, for example, is un
assisted nature to digest the latest despatches
concerning the Fapal question, which assure
us that the sucoessor of St. Peter has con
sented to go into a European Congresj for the
purpose of determining the future relations of
the Holy See to Italy on the one baud and to
the Catholio world on the other ?
It would, no doubt, enormously simplify
the Fapal question for the two powers most
deeply interested therein, France and Italy, if
the Roman Pontiff would consent to submit
his claims as a temporal prince to the decision
of a Congress of Europe, or even of the Catho
lio States "of Europe. For while it is certain
that in 'a general European Congress the pre
ponderance of votes would be overwhelmingly
against any arrangement looking to a perma
nent collective guarantee of the temporal
power at Rome, it is not less certain that the
strictly Catholio powers themselves would find
it practically impossible to frame such an
arrangement, were they even to agree npon
the propriety of making it. Of absolutely
Catholic pow ers, indeed, that is of powers which
represent populations, either exclusively or so
predominatingly Catholio as to authorize
tneir uovernment to omit all reference to Pro
testant wishes or feelinzs in forminor their
policy, there now exist but two in Europe. Of
mese iwo, cpain ana rortugal, the former,
though ruled just now by a Government
heartily disposed to support the extremest
pretensions of the Papal See, is virtually
jjuwenesH eimer o control European opinion,
or take independent action of her own; while
it is much more than doubtful whether the
Portuguese Government would give its voice
in favor of any measure looking to the per
petuation of the existing state of thines
at Rome. The King of Portugal is himself
a yoDurg oi aeciaedly liberal tendencies; his
wife, who deservedly exerts a great inlluenoe
over mm, is a daughter of the very King
of Italy whom the Pope has so consis
tently anathematized as a "sub-alpine"
spoiler of God's heritage: and the Portu
guese people are too profoundly disgusted
with the results of clerical supremacy in the
uv.jiiuuiiug icaiiuo vi ttjnuu, mj IOOK Willi
much toleration upon any project tending to
put themselves under a politico-religious re-
spousiuimy ior me preservation or the patri
mony of St. Peter. Of the powers whioh,
though Catholio in name, are forbidden bv
their political constitutions and the temper of
their inhabitants to commit themselves unre
servedly to the support of th temporal
Papacy, France would come to a congress on
the question determined to throw off a burden
which her. 'sovereign cannot possibly carry
nnuuuk jujjjoruuug me very existence oi his
dynasty; and Austria, bent on proving t& Ger
many and Europe her complete emancipation
from that thraldom to the Church which has
for years hampered her movements, and . the
supreme symbol of which, the Concordat of
1&j4, her statesmen and her Parliament are at
mis very moment united with her Emperor in
preparing to abolish I
This condition of things in so-called "Catho
lic" Europe is perfectly well known, if not to
Pope Pius IX, at least to " Pope. Pius' chief
political advisers. To suppose that Cardinal
Antonetti has recommended the' Pope in this
state of the ease to get himself represented in
a Congress, and to submit to the action of that
Congress claims whioh the Holy Father is
liever weary of asserting to be derived from a
power above all earthly thrones and tribunals,
is to suppose either that the Pope has sud
denly changed his infallible mind as to all the
most important features of his position, or
that the Cardinal, having resolved to save
whatever he can of the Paprcy, ha3 also re
solved to chloroform the Pope intc acquies
cence. But Pius IX is admitted by his bit
terest opponents to .be a person of the most
unaccommodating honesty.,, He may be truly
described as a fanatio of his own functions.
He sincerely and sacredly believes himself to
be the appointed Vicar of God npon earth, and
as such to be solemnly charged with the duty of
protesting where he cannot resist, against all
tampering with any of the rights, titles, and
privileges of the Holy ee, as these were com
mitted to him when, twenty years ago, the
dove descended upon the scarlet conclave in
the Uniririal, and Mastei-Ferretti became Pius,
ninth of the name. TLe "logio of events" has
no hold upon Lim. "Accomplished facts" are
for him but as the dust and spray of transient
human passions breaking idly upon the liter
.nal Rrck of Peter. The provinces wrested
from his dominion by their inhabitants in 18U0,
and annexed, with the consent of Europe, to
the Italian realms, ar Btill for I'ius IX the
lawful inheritance of the Church, wickedly
occupied by a thief and robber.' If Pius I
ANN IS & CO.
South FRONT Street,
comprises all the favorite brands extant, and ruJ
goes before a European Congress, it will be
claim .back what has been taken from h
not to negotiate the terms on which w
remains to him can be surrendered most ccf
fortably to all parties concerned. The t
has been when Popes, thus obstinately hos
to the necessary movement of politics, ool
ue quietly translated to a Higher sphere,
we live in other days; and though it is p
enough that the living Pius XI is really
main obstacle to-day to some sort of a prai
cat settlement oi the rapai question, we
hardly imagine that a European Cong
would now undertake to sequestrate an
manageable Pontiff, or the wiliest and
diplomatic of Cardinals himself to harmo j
matters with a dose of "succession powdj
If, however, in spite of all the antecei
probabilities, a kind of European Congres;
the Papal . question really is about to be I
and a Papal nuncio to take his seat the
between the representatives of the exoom
nicatedH Kinir Victor and of the disobei
Kaiser who has put his concordat into the h
oi the Protestant Von lieust. no other r
can be looked for from such a gathering (3
me solemn ana omoiai proclamation oi
already obvious truth, that no agreement
be looked for between Italy and Europe 01
one hand and the Pope as a temporal prj
on the other. The registration of this t
as the outcome of a grand and general el
to disprove it may possibly be of service t
canse of European progress, It would at
make it easier for the Emporor Napole
withdraw, as there are all the reasons i
world for believinc: that he wishes and
to withdraw, from his own exceptional and
perilous position as the protector
power which he has repeatedly condel
m principle, wmcn nas laugnea ior ivi
years at his counsels, and by whiolj
has just been brought to the verge
senseless and fatal conflict with that
naiy wnion ne had done more than any!
vo reaeem ana reconstitute. JNext to
settlement of the Roman question b
assembled wisdom of Eurone. nerhaos th'
thing to be hoped for ia the abandoning
that question to the drift of things, bj
assemoiea wisaom or iiurope. The if
and reckless onslaught of Garibaldi upcl
Pope, which was in truth rather a rtf
tionary attempt upon the Italian mon
than an honest attempt to free the Roi
has compelled the Emperor Napoleon ii
uiKHiwiuuu which lie cannot wnn sail
himself and France nrolonar or reDeat
assembling of a Congress may release 1
once irom this awkward and disagreeabh
tion. But it will be a wonderful dep
from the traditions of the Roman Court
Pontifical authorities themselves pat
their own hands to help the "Eldest
the Church" out of a scrape which, ho
annoying it may do to himself and to F
has great practical advantages for the
rulers of Rome.
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