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Leader (1850-1860), 30th October 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1154

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      GEKMANY , ( From our own Correspondent . ) October 27 . OS tho 20 th inat . the Prussian Landtag met in the White Hall of the Royal Palace , and the Prince *» # >»*> talcing a position on thci right of the throno , read tue foliowing speech : — , , _ * » Illustrious , noblo , and gentle Sirs of both Houses ot the Diet—With deep and painful emotion , but at ¦ t" ° «"" ° time with firm confidence , 1 stand in your midst , aii « heavy affliction which this year past has bcrniiun our gracious King and master still cleaves to him "J « ' » inscrutable will of God , notwithstanding the huaitoil supplications of his faithful people . In eoiweiiuei co oj this , and ns the physicians consider o roslaoiico » i « ouu for a time absolutel needfulmy Koyul brothui lias

      y , been pleased to summon ino to uudortnko the ^"" P * of the kingdom till , by the morcy of God , ho « ' « " ¦ '"? again able to exerciao tho functions of Koyalty \ nuwn-That ho may soon bo aufilcluntly roeovored to no » o w , as God is my witness , my constant wish and l' « iy 01 ; . . is a groat relief to my mind that his Majesty , n «« wisdom and forethought for tho welfare oi the »•»»•} "" summoned mo to undertake tho Regency . In « jUuluu V ; to this enunciation of tho Royal will I , vjowlnd tue actual circumataueos and tho prescriptions ol « ' «» " ; l

      of the land , have undertaken the heavy bunion » 'M »" sponslblllty of tho Kogm . oy wllh tho earnest dual o , ur thormoro , to do that whloh tho constitution and t w lows require of mo . I oxueot , gentlemen , that you on jou part will do tho sa . no . The documents rolat utf to " «« Regency will bo laid before you , by o asocial wowflgii

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      so every day . Men ask one another , Why does not Government interfere ? The Papal sj'stem is upheld bv those " holy French bayonets , " and the Pope is the mere creature of the Emperor . A repetition of the letter , to Ney , and the withdrawal of French' troops , would tumble the whole system down . like a house of cards . Every morning the Moniteur is eagerly scanned to see if the Government has screwed its courage to the stickingplace to speak in the name of humanity and family ties and every morning brings a fresh disappointment . Men do not hesitate to say that this prolonged silence and inaction are a scandal and a shame to France , a stiT na of national humiliation and degradation . An eminent member of the Imperial family does not conceal his disgust and indignation at this fresh inroad of priestly and is

      tyranny ; an opinion gaming ground that the Emperor is only biding his time and waiting for the ripe fruit . to fall into his lap . The sincerity of his devotion to the Holy See is questioned , and people are in expectation of a decree one of these mornings appearing , which will set forth the high Crimes and misdemeanours of the Papal Government in mystic language , and declare the annexation of the territory , the maintenance of the Pope in Paris , and the bestowal of the title of Roi de Rome on the Imperial baby . The ways of Napoleon are devious until he ha 3 trodden in his uncle ' s footsteps ; and as for the Papal Government they have well-nigh fi lled up the measure of their misdeeds which lead them blindfold to destruction . Quos Deus vult " perdere prius dementat . The rape of Mortara may be counted next to Luther's burning : of the Papal bull .

      As an instance of the great amount of personal liberty enjoyed here , which partisans of Government assert is greater than in aiiy other country , the account of what passed at Amiens only a day or two ago may not be uninstructive . The editor of a local paper criticised an actor , who went , like the French Dragoon at Newcastle , and grossly insulted the writer . In the evening , the public , sympathising with the editor , greeted the appearance of the actor on the stage with what the Bishop of Oxford called nasty hisses . Whereupon , the Central Commissary walked on to the stage and read the following decree by the Prefect of the Somme , which looks as if it had been prepared beforehand : —" Considering that the last performances at the Amiens Theatre have been

      of China , having often occasion to baptise children , whose fathers are pagans , asks if he may and if he ought to baptise , them without the consent or even against the wishes of their parents , especially when the infants are ill , to the danger of themselves . Reply .- — It must be- replied to this difficulty by making a distinction with St . Thomas ( part iii . quest . 38 ) , for either these children have the use of reason or they have it not . If they have , and ask to be baptised , Macoul may baptise them , even against the wishes of their fathers . The reason for which , given by the saint doctor , is that children who have the use of reason are masters of their

      will , and independent of that of their fathers in respect to things -which , are of divine right or natural . " Pueri infideliuin filii aut habent usum rationis , aut non habent . Si autem habent , quantum ad ea quse sunt juri 3 divini an naturalis , incipiunt suse potestatis esse , et ideo propri& voluntate , invifcis parentibns possunt baptismum suscipere . .... et ideo tales moneri possunt et induei ad suscipiendum baptismum . " But if the children have not yet the use of reason , they are by natural right under the safeguard of their fathers . It is wherefore , as priests ought not to . . baffle those who have the use of reason against their will , they may not , without violating natural justice , baptise those who have not the use of reason without the consent of their parents . St .

      Thomas says : — " Si vero non habent usum liben arbitrii , secundum jus naturale sunt sub cura parentum , quandiuipsi sibi providere non possunfc . Et ideo , contra justitiam naturalem essest , si tales pueri , invitis parentibus baptisarentur , sicut etiam si aliquis habens usum rationis baptisaretur invitus . "— - ( St . Thomas , vbi supra , 2 , 27 , quest . 10 , act 12 . ) In conclusion , the Faint doctor added another reason wherefore children i l this c ise ought not to be baptised ; it is that these Infant s , h-wing a natural inclination for their parents , ¦ would i elapse easily to infidelity , and that is wherefore the Church does not approve this baptism before they have reached the age of reason , and desire it . "Essetetiam periculosum taliter filios infideliuin baptisare , quia facile

      ad infidelitatem redirent propter naturalem affectionem ad parentes , et ideo non habet . Ecclesiae consuetudo quod filii infideliuin invitis parentibus baptisentur ^" It is also for this reason that the Congregation of Cardinals , interpreter of the Council of Trent in so far as regarded discipline and manners , being consulted by missionaries to China , made a decree , approved by Inno _ - cent X ., by which it was prohibited to baptise infants without the consent of their fathers and mothers ; and on the occasion of the baptism at Avignon of a Jew girl , unknown to the father , the Congregation of Cardinals ordered its preachers to declare that whosoever

      Sovereign Pontiff ; if the assertions of those who sustain this . carrying off as legitimate , and even obligatory , should receive a definitive confirmation , we cannot think without a lively alarm upon all the dangers which will result therefrom to the Christian faith , not to speak of the grief that will be felt by crowds of the faithful ; and from the doubts and suspicions which in consequence may arise in their minds , will not the adversaries of the Christian religion be seen . to rejoice that the supreme chief of Catholicity should give his consecration to an act directly contrary to public morality and to the law of all civilised nations ? Moreover , if it sufficed , from a baptism accomplished clandestinely and unknown to his familv on a little child , or even from the tardy

      parents , secretty baptised in private in the cradle , it is said by a Catholic servant , and to-day aged about seven years , has been carried off from his family by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Bologna , for the reason , say the apok > gi ? ts of this ., act , that , having become a Christian by baptism , the child has a right to be protected in its faith against the influence of his Israelite parents . ' It is in respect to this event , Holy Father , that the members of the Universal Christian Alliance appeal respectfully to make you hear their lamentations and their cares . Belonging to divers churches , the members of the Universal Christian Alliance are united among themselves by the solemn profession of these three evangelical principles—Love of God , creator and creatures and

      father of all men ; L . ove of men , immortal children of God ; Love of Jesus Christ , son of God and Saviour of men . It is in the name of these principles of faith and Christian activity , and after the example of the Saviour , who taught the Israelite to recognise his neighbour in a Samaritan , that the members of the Universal Christian Alliance stretch abroad in common their fraternal action to eVery unfortunate one whom they may serve , whatsoever may be his belief and hia nationality . The step they take at this hour , Holy Father , is in the first rank of the duties imposed upon them by the principles of their Alliance . It is in . invoking the respect for paternal authority which they behold outraged in that

      which is most sacred ; it is in reclaiming the rights of conscience , which can never be with impunity disregarded , and which are proclaimed aloud in the constitutions of the most enlightened peoples ; it is in relying , above all , on the most positive teachings and doctrines of Christianity that the members of the Christian Alliance seek from you , Holy Father , the restoration of the child Mortara into the hands of his parents . If the excess of zeal committed towards this infant , first by a servant , next by public functionaries and religious authorities dependent on the Holy See , could obtain your sovereign sanction , Holy Father ; if the demands of his parents , supported by so ; loud an explosion of public opinion , should be raised in vain up to the throne of the

      should dare hereafter to repeat the same thing , besides the mortal sin he would commit , would be punished by his superiors in the manner they might think fit . This is what is reported by Louis Bancel , Moralis Sancti Thorn ., IirfldelUas , voL i . What has been stated must be understood to apply to cases even where children are ill , in danger of death , but not to those who are evidently dying or despaired of . In this case a missionary , or any other Christian , may administer baptism , and is even obliged to do so by the law of charity , provided he can do so without using violence and without scandal . ' " ( De Sainte-Beuve , vol . iii . chap . xxiii O

      and suspected declaration of a servant who may pretend to have cotiferredsuch a baptism to authorise the carrying off this child from his parents , what must not be henceforth the fears and anguish of a multitude of families in all the countries where the religious authority which professes a parallel doctrine shall be powerful enough to carry it into practice ? We , Frenchmen , shall then see ourselves reached by the same blow in France ; not only the Mussulmans become our fellow-countrymen in the most important of our colonies ; not only the Protestants whoso fathers formerly underwent tho same odious treatment , and the same moral tortures , and to whom it must not be given to foresee the return of those days of anguish and of mourning : not only the Greek Christians

      In order to a clear comprehension of the case , _ and of how sweeping a condemnation the above quotation is of the forcible conversion and rape of young Mortara , it should be stated that the baptism is said to hnvo been surreptitiously performed when the child was twelve montlia old and by a servant wench sixteen years old , who kept the secret for five long years . The first question that will naturally arise is , Did the baptism really take place ? for the wench is proved to have lied in fixing tho illness ,

      nnd all the schismatics from the point of view of tho Cutholic Church , but even tho Catholics themselves , so soon as , for motives more or less founded , the purity of their faith may be suspected , and the Christian education of their children regarded as in danger under their paternal direction . A short time since we pleaded before the King of Sweden tho cause of tolerance and of equity in favour of a few women converted to Catholicism , and for thia reason legally stamped in Sweden with severe condemnation . To-day it is to the supreme and venerated chief of the Catholic worship that wo address an humble request inspired by the same Christian sentiment . Quite recently a child of Christian parents was abstracted from his family by a diaciplo of tho Koran j tho news was received everywhere with a lively indignation , and

      irhich led to the baptism , at a date shown to be false by the testimony , under oath , of the doctor of the family . With such rotten evidence before thorn tho Ul tramontanes are obliged to have recourse to fable . They pretend that the Pope has the infallible power of discerning whether baptism has been administered or not , and that he has beheld , somehow and somewhere in tho Jew boy , tho unmistakable signs of conversion . Your readers will recal to minfl , with a rising smile , the powers of divination described in Iludibras .

      It is not worth while to spend time in refuting tho quirks , the quibbles , and subterfuges employed by tho Ultramontanes to get over tho difficulty of proving , bosides the fact of baptism , the competency of tho serving-Trench to judge of the stato of health of the child , and Of the expediency of -administering tho initiatory rito of Christianity . I keep , therefore , to tho groat and main fact , tho scission introduced into tho Roman Catholio Church by tho rape of young Mortara . To day tho Universal Christian Alliance have published their address to the Pope , which is signod by tho president , Monnin-Japy , and by tho soorotary , Georges Sohlattor . Whether regarded in a roliglous or political point of view , the address Is of the highest importance , and I therefore subjoin a translation as literal as practicable : — " Paris , 2 Gtu Oct ., 1858 . .

      with happiness whs it learned soon after that justice had boon rendered . We , remembering tho maxim , ' Do not to others as you would not they should do unto you , ' and , above all things , the maxim of our Divine Muster , ' Omniaorgo quwouiique vultis ut fuciunt vobis homines , ot voa facito illls j liooo ost onim lex ofc prophotro . ' We como to tho foot of tho throno of tho Sovereign Pontiff , to support with instance the demands of tho Israelite family of Bolognn . Render back , Holy Father , peace and happiness to tho paronts of young Mortara , and security to all those whom tho carrying off of this child has filled with disquietude nnd suspicion . Minister of God on onrth show to all men that your arm stretches forth to proteot ' and -blosa . Wo lay at your foot ,, Holy Father , tho nbmaire of our vonorutlon . "

      " Holy Father , —A domestic misfortune , lifted up Almost to the height of a universal calamity , prooooupies at this moment tho attention of tho peoples . Hero to what is learned with stupefaction : —Tho infant Mortara . bora at Bologna ( States of tho Ouureli ) of Israelite

      It now remains to bo soon what nnawor tho Popo will glvo to this address , which Is moro strongly worded than it might bo supposed tho Government would huvo allowod to bo published . Meanwhile , tho excitement aud irritation of tho public arc intonso , and become moro

      distinguished by regrettable disorders ; considering that , while leaving to the public the greatest freedom of appreciation , the authority should watch that the progress of the spectacle be not interfered with ;—we decree : Art . 1 . —It is prohibited to receive actors on their entrance upon the stage with manifestations which , by their character and continuance , may trouble the performance . Art . 2 . —Signs of approbation or of disapprobation will be tolerated , but only after the public shall have been able to appreciate the play of the actor . When these signs of approbation or of disapprobation , by being continued , prevent the peaceful continuation linterdicted

      of the spectacle , they should be formaly . The dissatisfied portion of the audience were invited to send in their complaints , and a discussion , took place among the malcontents in the foyer . At half-past nine , a company of the 9 th Line were sent for and drawn up outside on the pavement . The opera was recommenced at a quarter to ten , but the hisses being renewed , the Police Commissary bounced forward again and invited peaceable people to withdraw before he proceeded to clear the theatre , whether by rolling volleys or a bayonet charge is not mentioned . Tho threat ana proximity of troops outside obtained a hearing fur tue opera taut i > is qua mal .

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      1154 TH E LEADE B ,. [ 3 STo . 449 , October 30 , 1858 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 30, 1858, page 1154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2266/page/10/