"Keine Sünde war zu gross, kein Verbrechen so blutig und gräuelelvoll, dass man sich nicht einem Ablass dafür zu Rom hatte erkaufen konnen. Man beschuldigt Papste aller Lasterthaten, des Meuchelmordes, der Blutschande, Unzucht, Giftmischerei. Aber wehe! demjenigen, der ihre Heiligkeit in Zweifel zog, sie bussten es mit dem martervollsten Tode. Die usurpirte schrekensherrschaft der römischen Kirchenfursten war eine Ausgeburt finsterer Jahrhunderte."*

As a proof of the terrible state in which religion is, not merely in Vienna but in other parts of Germany, we shall contrast the preceding slander on Rome and its Pontiffs with the following paragraph, which describes the grief experienced upon the defeat of the deistical Strauss, when seeking to be returned as a representative to the German Parliament at Frankfort.

"Ludwigsburg, April 30.-Black banners wave over all our fountains; black flags are exhibited by every house; many of the men wear black crape on their hats and arms, and the women are to be seen with black ribbons and rosettes. Never, since it was first founded, did our town present so melancholy an aspect. This deep-this heartfelt, and this not mere outward show of grief, is occasioned by the defeat of Strauss, the renowned author of 'The Life of Jesus,' and who has so recently won for himself new fame in the field of statesmanship, by his clear, clever, and at the same time moderate political contributions to the Swabian Mercury. All Ludwigsburg, without a single exception, voted for Strauss, the agricultural district for his opponent, Hoffman, whose property has now to be protected by a guard of forty men."†

Such is the condition of the public mind in too many parts of Germany, such is its impiety! There is slander and persecution for the Catholics; irreverence for what they deem most holy; and respect for those who have misapplied their talents by fostering, promoting, and diffusing infidelity.

An unreasoning faith may degenerate into superstition. An irrational disbelief is sure to develope itself in blasphemy. The superstition and the blasphemy of the Germans who are not catholics, and yet claim for themselves the title of Christians, is well described by Andersen in one of his interesting tales:

* " Wider Seine Schein-Heiligkeit Papst Pius den ix. p. 1.

t

"Frankfurter Oberpostamts Zeitung, May 3rd. 1848.

"Amongst the festival days," he observes, "we have one in honour of the holy kings; and yet what did these kings? they knelt before the crib of Christ, and therefore we honour them. And yet we have no festival day dedicated to the Mother of God. On the contrary, the most of us smile when we hear but her name mentioned."*

Wherever the disbeliever or the apostate is possessed of power, that power is invariably exercised in the persecution of the Catholic Church. It has been so with the "constitutionalists" in Spain, and the "liberals" in Portugal, as well as the modern "revolutionists" and "republicans" in Germany. In Vienna alone, where one of the first demands made was "freedom of religion, and of conscience, and of instruction," ("Religions, Gewissens, und Lehr-freiheit,") it was found, that no sooner had the request been complied with, than the use made of it by the armed students, citizens, and mob, was to force the emperor to suppress the Redemptorists, to sequestrate their property, as well as the property of other religious orders in the Austrian dominions; and at length the intolerance and tyranny of those who had petitioned for "freedom of speech," and "the liberty of the press," compelled the emperor to fly from Vienna, and seek for refuge amongst the Tyrolese, whose love of liberty is alone exceeded by their attachment and devotion to the Catholic Church.

The Revolution in Vienna has had many deplorable consequences. From it sprung the carnage at Berlin, which would have been a most wasteful loss of human life, if it had not been interrupted by the concessions of the Prussian king, at the very moment when his soldiers were about to defeat on every point the revolted citizens; to it also can be traced, as a primary impulse, the useless loss of life in Schleswic-Holstein, the bombardment of the lovely Prague, the city of St. John of Nepomuck, the capital of the enthusiastic Czechens the cruel massacres in the Grand Duchy of Posen-the vain insurrection in Cracow the bootless battle of Donaushingen-the devas

* " Unter unseren Festen haben wir eins für die heilige Könige; was haben diese Konige gethan? Sie knieten vor der Krippe Christi, deshalb ehren wir sie. Die Mutter Gottes hat dagegen keinen Festag; ja die Menge lachelt gar bei ihrem Namen." O. Z. Theil. i. c. 3. Andersen's Gesammelte Werke, vol. vi. p. 27.

tation by fire and sword of the banks of the Danube-the bankruptcy of thousands-the stoppage of trade-the paralyzation of commerce-the utter beggary, want of employment, and frightful destitution of millions of the working classes.

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What is the good hoped for from all this? What is to be the compensation for all these evils? Not that of which Germans have written and harangued the most-the establishment of one, united, imperial, Germanic crown; but that of which they think the most, -the formation of one grand Germanic Republic; for it is towards such that all their wishes are directed. The tendency of every aggressive government is to a centralization of power, and with power centralized in France, and power centralized in Russia, it is certain that Germany, (supposing her to be desirous of repelling the infidel democracy of the one, and the schismatical despotism of the other,) would stand in need of so much centralized power as would enable her to resist both, with a prospect of success. Such a government with an honest Austrian, and not a double-tongued Prussian, at its head, might be good for Germany itself, and not injurious to its neighbours. It would be far otherwise with an universal German Republic, a republic, one and indivisible," as in France; for we must remember that, at the best, all great empires are great tyrannies, exhausting the extremities to overflow the centre; despoiling distant lands of the necessaries of life to make the capital superabound in luxuries; sacrificing a province to enrich the imperial citizen; a nation to make a principality for a noble; many kingdoms to exalt a despot, and decorate him with an imperial crown; treating as slaves the many and the inert, and placing a ban upon the few who aspire to freedom. There is hope for the subjects of a mighty empire which is ruled by a single man, because the tyranny may be as short-lived as the tyrant; there is a chance of a fair government when such an empire is ruled by an oligarchy, because their mutual hatreds and rival ambitions may render them desirous to compete for popular applause, and to defer to public opinion. But of all despotisms, that which is the most hopeless, the most sordid, and the most unprincipled, is that of an enormous republic ruled by men of strong passions and weak minds; for there is not either individual responsibility of danger, or of a sense of honour in the misgovernment and the misconduct of the many. Fear precedes and desolation follows such an imperial centralized republic. It is, whilst it continues, as a flight of locusts.

When we pronounce an opinion against a centralized Germanic republic, it is not because we consider catholicity and republicanism incompatible with each other. The example of the United States proves far otherwise. We object to a German republic, because we have seen the Germanic nations incompetent to exercise the powers entrusted to them, using those powers to insult the weak, to afflict the pious, to oppress the good, and finally to force their rulers into an unjust and aggressive war. When they have proved their capacity for self-government, we shall not desire to see them prevented from adopting that particular form which they may deem the most consistent with their own liberty and prosperity; for, in this respect, we adopt the opinion of a cardinal and a Jesuit, Bellarmine, even though we find it quoted by an opponent to that creed of which Bellarmine was so illustrious an expositor:

"Pendet a consensu multitudinis super se constituere regem vel consules, vel alios magistratas ut patet: et si causa legitima adsit, potest multitudo mutare regnum in aristocratiam aut democratiam, ut Romæ factum legimus." *

Religion is not to be confounded with tyranny, nor is it to be supposed that its sympathies are with despotism, Lecause deism declares itself a republican, and atheism canvasses for followers, and claims votes under the pretence that it is " a friend to freedom" and "the rights of labour." Most socialists are for universal suffrage. Admitting them to be sincere, it does not follow that the christian is an aristocrat, nor the monk an admirer of despotism.

To the rulers, even more than the ruled, the Austrian revolution, and the events in Germany, are, we state for the second time, pregnant with salutary warning. These two great facts should never be forgotten by them.

The first great fact is, that a government which is not wise enough to make necessary reforms, whilst there is still time to make them, and thereby forces a people to

* Bellarmine as quoted in Ranke's Historisch-politische Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. 601.

take up arms to assert their rights, is a government which at last places itself in this predicament: that if it yield to an armed force, the first demands made from it only postpones its own annihilation; and if it refuses them, and is defeated, it brings down upon itself, and on the instant, the punishment which its past misdeeds have merited, and in its fall nations rejoice, whilst the justice of God seems to be accomplished even by the hands of wicked men.

The second great fact is, that once a government arrays itself against the gospel, and lends itself to the persecution of those religious persons who have devoted themselves to the service of the Church and the poor, it makes an enemy of heaven, allies itself with demons, does the work of the great enemy of mankind, and whilst it corrupts the hearts, and stimulates the passions of the people, it also prepares the way for its own downfall. Sooner or later will descend upon the crown and the sceptre that have been thus misemployed the malediction of the Most High; a strange race will fill the throne of the persecutor, as in Englandhate and strife tend to the extermination of the royal race, as in Spain and Portugal; or the immediate descendants of the persecutor shall, despite of their personal virtues, be bowed down with degradation, as in Austria, and suffer the consequences of wrongs which they had not themselves provoked. The extinct line of the Tudors, and the broken line of Habsburg, attest not less the crime than the punishment of the families of Henry VIII. and Joseph II.

The Austrian Revolution and its consequences have filled us with sad forebodings as to the future fate of Germany. Both, we must candidly admit, tend to vindicate the stringent police government of Prince Metternich; as if he were conscious that neither the Germanic nor Sclavonic races were fitted for self-government, and therefore could not, with safety to themselves nor to others, be permitted freedom of speech, or of action, as being alike incompetent to employ the one with prudence, and the other with justice.*

* "Much time was wasted during this day," (the first day of the opening of the German Parliament at Frankfort-on-the-Maine,) by propositions which found no seconders, and by speeches which could not procure patient listeners. The want of knowledge in conducting Parliamentary business, or, in fact, the business of any public meeting, was most lamentable, and was equally displayed by the