THE POPE, TRE GERMAN EMPEROR, AND THE DUNEDIN PROTESTANT PRESS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 43, 21 February 1874, Page 9

THE POPE, TRE GERMAN EMPEROR, AND THE DUNEDIN PROTESTANT PRESS.

Auckland. Thr contest now being carried on between the Pope, or in other words Clerical Europe and the German Emperor, is not likely soon to end. The interest excited by the late bloody Franco-Prussian war was nothing as compared with that which exists throughout the whole of Christendom in respect of the present politico-religious Btruggle between Borne and Berlin. Wherever the Catholic Church has-been-planted this struggle will find a place. Some will range themselves on the side of the Pope, and some on the side of the Emperor — or rather, of the respective principles which they each represent and uphold, The English press pronounce strongly in favour of the Emperor, and against the Pope a£& the Catholic Episcopacy. The Dunedin ' Evening Star,' and ' Guardian,' and ' Times,' following suit to the London ' Times' and smaller fry of the English press, denounce the Pope and Catholic Episcopacy in unmeasured terms of vituperation. All the old hackneyed calumnies and misrepresentations to the prejudice of the Catholic clergy which have done duty among the ignorant ever since Luther's day are being reproduced, as if they were something new and had not been a thousand times refuted to the satisfaction of every man having any pretensions to honesty as a well-bred 3tudenfc of history. Had j our neighbour the ' Star' only consulted such historical writers as Gkiizot, Ranke, Kay, Macaulay, Hallam, and that worthy Scot, Samuel Laing, to say nothing of Radical Cobbett, lie would never have made such an exhibition of his ignorance and prejudices as ho has dove. But it is well for the Catholic cause that such writers should say their worst when they do so in presence of those who, like yourself, are abltj to show the groundless nature of those charges against the Churoh which they bring forward with so much confidence. Thousands, indeed, will see these unjust accusations, who will never soe the replies you make to them. But never mind : words have wings, and no man can tell in what direction or how far they may fly. So far aa human means are concerned, this contest is in many ways a most unequal one. We see on the one side the Pope, a poor, defenceless old mau, abandoned to his fate by the great ones of the eaith, and virtually a prisoner in the hands of his powerful enemies. On the other hand we see the Eaiperor of the most formidable military nation in modern Europe, backed by such supporters as Bismarck, the London and Dunedin press, aud all the so-called "liberal" Governments in Europe. Abuse and ridicule are poured without measure upon the Pope and all who dare to open their mouths or write a word i<\ his defence. Away with them ! away with them ! Silence them all — say the liberal press of London and America, for they are the enemies of literature, science, civilization, and human progress. They love the darkness, ami hate the light. Ve 1 , iv spite of all this, no sooner does the Pope issue some official missive to the Emperor and the faithful Catholic Bishops, than the Emperor and " liberal " Europe aro troubled. Tho latest London cablegram, Jan. 18, in ' Daily Southern Cross,' announces: That the Papil bull is causing, "sensation." They either feel or pretend to feel the greater alarm at the Pope's " menaces," as they call his indignant protests against the unjust and oppressive acts of his enemies and tho enemies of the Church. The fears expressed by the London 'Times' at the Pope's recent letter to the Emperor borders on the ludicrous, and would be indeed ridiculous were the language used not so mischievous, or one might almost- say malicious. Ec denounces tho Catholic Episcopacy throughout the United Kingdom, as ripo for any soit >>i action against the British Government ; ready to join any combination which might have for its object to " dismember" the British Empire. This, it Is presumed, refers to the " Home Rule" movement, and to the action some of the Catholic clergy are now taking in it. From this laa^ cruage of the ' Times' it would appear that the movement shows signa -

•Of growing power, and promises ultimately to lead to success. The preat object of such journals as the London 'Times' and its humble followers m this Colony is to create alarm and fill the public mind with prejudice and indignation against the Pope and the Catholic clergy, and through them against Catholic people generally, so that they may be denied thp lights duo to them. The " llibera lS press try to effect this by what the Americans call "bunkum," and tall writing, misrepresentations, aud artful insinuations. They may succeed to a considerable extent in their unworthy and ungenerous purpose— and for a considerable time. But it is too late in the day to expect such a ruse to succeed long now, and as it once did. Education has out a stop to that game. Men now read and reflect for themselves, and are not to be led by the nose to believe what is untrue, -merely because it appears in the pages of the London ' Times' and Dunedin ' Evenijg Star," Guardian, « Bruce Herald,' or other Colonial papers. One would imagine that tho history of England during the past fifty years, and which is open to all men, Protestant and Christian alike, might teach Bismarck, his master, and their abettors in Dunedin and elsewhere, how vain it is to try to get Hie better of the Catholic Episcopacy ; or to arrest the irresistible onward march of the Catholic Church anywhere, by any penal or repressive laws of any kind whatsoever. Daniel O'Connell, backed by the Irish priesthood, conquered the " Iron Duke," the Conqueror of King*. This roan who never fought a battle that he did uot wir, was compelled reluctantly and with a Terv ill grace to surrender to O Comic !1 and the Irish Roman Catholic Episcopacy, because their cause wm 8 a just one. The Duko's published despatches show that he only surrendered because he knew the sense of justice in the British House of Commons, Protestant though it was, was on the side of the Irish Cafholics. Bismarck beware! You, too, may ere long discover that even the Protestant members of the German Pailiument will turn against you. Already the " ultramontaues" in Germany, as the cablegrams last received tell us, have gained 30 members at last general election. No man, whether Catholic or Protestant, likes the idea of being ruled by mere " blood and steel." The continuous aud increasing stream of German converts, many of them men df position and learning, now entering the Catholic Church, as shown in a late number of your journal, may well excite the serious apprehension of Bismarck and his Imperial master. It may even well furnish matter for wholesome reflection to your Dunedin contemporaries, A like spectacle is seen in Protestant England and America, and somewhat even in these Colonies. But England, Germany, and America are the educated countries in the world. Probably Irelind, the ie;y bulwark and stronghold of the Catholic Church in the Uui'ed ■kingdom, is the best educated of them all. For this thauks in a great measure are due to the zeal of the Catholic clergy and the liberality of the Protestant British Government. Tho Government established a system of secular " national education," which was designed to sap the foundations of the Catholic Church in Ireland, but which has practically proved the means of strengthening her, in consequence of the action taken by the Catholic clergy. In tins Colony the same thing will most hkely happen, a^ the result of the j jintacfim of the Government and the Catholic Church. Secular schools will bo established by Government, and at their side will be planted Catholic schools, whether aided by Government or not. The Catholic schools will protect the faith and morals of the Catholic children and give a good religious education, while tne Government schools will lead many into infidelity, and still more into the Catholic -Church. It is now a 'well-understood thing, that the tendency of nil education outside the Catholic Church is to bear men either into. infidelity or Catholicism. There is no middle path. The English infidel, Gibbon, praising Luther, regretted that he had stopped short in his course towards infidelity. Haviii" rejected the authority of the Catholic Church it was a logical consequence of his PTstem to repudiate all Christian authority and restraint whatever, and to be guided by "pure reason" aloce, or his own private judgment, in all matters of religious belief. T. W.