'BLUNDERS ON ALL SIDES.
Ste—The publication of a Papal bull affecting the feelings of the people of England was ill-advised at this period of the year, when the daily press are hard set to fill their double-sheet : June, when the May meetings in Exeter 'Hall are over, and the fate of the Ministry pretty well decided for the current session, would have been better. At that time of the year, the Prime Minister, the clergy, and the press, would have dealt in law, sense, and reason, instead of declamation and excitement; England would have been spared the exhibition of some fanaticism, and the Romanists some in- dignities. Nor if the course which, by Cardinal Wiseman's own showing, was pur- sued when the Romish hierarchy was to be established in the Colonies, had been adopted when the Vicars-General were to be metamorphosed into Bishops of the faithful,—that is, had her Majesty's Ministers been duly con- sulted on the matter,—is it likely that their consent would have been refused, or any popular excitement stirred up. By showing the draft of the bull to Lord Minto, the Court of Rome admitted that this course was possible and allowable at that time; and they certainly ought not to have construed the mere silence of an emissary into a consent binding those who sent him, thenceforth and for ever. The Cardinal does not allege that Lord Minto was made to comprehend the drift of the measure: perhaps he may have forgotten his Latin or may find ecclesiastical and episcopal matters either in Latin or
Italian Latin, of comprehension. However that may be, fault cannot be found with the Court of Rome up to that transaction on the point of cour- tesy; and the very difference between its conduct then and now, is proof that different motives have been brought into play. Insidiousness and other moral peccadilloes are-readily attributed to Romish statesmen, nor are they supposed to be unmindful of old grudges. Why should it be imagined that they are less insensible to new affronts, or that they would refrain from acting on new resentments ? The Pope may not be oblivious of Harry the Eighth or Queen Bess, but ho certainly has also more modern antiputhies ; amongst which are Lord Eglinton's amendment, Lord Ilinto's mission, and Mr. Freeborn's consulship. The first denied him the title of Pope in an act authorizing diplomatic i intercourse, the second en- dangered the existence of h temporal power, and the latter braves its exercise. And good Protestants attribute such a Christian temper to Pius the Ninth, that they believe him altogether unmoved by these insults; whilst they think the spirit of priestly domination so ineradicable that the Papacy can never rest until they are reduced under its power ! Diplomatic intercourse with the Court of Rome was fully, authorized by a late act of Parliament. By that act the Pope became to the people of Eng- land as one of the other Governments of Europe. England might be at peace or war with Rome, and the Foreign Secretary might exchange treaties, defiances, and diplomatic notes, as exigency or caprice might dictate. The bull of the Pope, if an aggression, is therefore the aggression of a foreign power, and should be resisted by diplomacy or war—by, the pen of Lord Pal- merston, or the grins ot Sir William Parker. The whole matter is political, and should be politically treated. The question of what ought to be done is a very grave one, though the Prime Minister and our Diocesan seem to find no difficulty : a State prose- cution if possible, an act of Parliament in the alternative, is their remedy. Perhaps new bishoprics in Southwark and Westminster will be created, and the Cardinal thus brought within the reach of the secular arm. Such sees ought to be created now, as they ought to have been -long ago ; but spite against a rival creed would be a disgraceful origin for them. Such a proceeding would be a dodge, not an act of statesmanship; an act of ecclesiastical vengeance, not of Christian charity. The most rational proceeding would be to negotiate; but in order to negotiate with success, reasonable concessions must be made. The Pope can hardly be expected to swallow his own words Bo promptly as Lord Palmerston did at the biddiug of France in the Pacifico affair - but he might be induced to a new arrangement which should be sanctioned by our Go- vernment : that would be a practical renunciation of his jurisdiction in Eng- land as exercised in spite of the State, and a sufficient acknowledgment that he had acted hastily and on ill advice. But our Government must be pre- pared to concede a territorial title to the new Archbishop and Bishops, and to recognize their spiritual authority so far as it can be exercised without the assistance of the secular arm; and all this might be so done as to insure a distinction between the Bishops of the Establishment and those of the schism. Supposing, however, the spirit of Exeter Hall to be too much abroad for this, and that the remedy for our wounded honour is to be looked for at the hands of the Legislature, then an act should be passed prohibiting the as- sumption of territorial title by individual or corporation except as legally authorized : there is no reason for limiting the prohibition to Romanists or matters of religion ; gas-works, insurance-offices, and banks, all endeavour to gain advantages over their competitors, and impose on the public, by an assumption of such names as "The London and Westminster," "The Nor- wich," "The West Middlesex," &c. ; all which are notoriously void of foundation, but impose upon the ignorant. Let Englishmen ponder well on the alternative,—Orangemm, Protestant ascendancy, religious persecution, the continuance of a thousand abuses in Church and State : for if the matter is to be taken in the religious point of view and not in the political, every Protestant abuse will be hallowed as antagonistic-to Popery, no sacrifice will be too great to-insure-the subjugation of the Scarlet lady, Whether Lord John has any answer to the Cardinal's quotations from " Hansard " does not appear. l/ ,they can be verified, he has committed himself to the common-sense, if notlatitudinarian, view of the matter ; and perhaps he will ingeniously explain in a non-natural way the unpleasant allusions of which the Cardinal complains. Then- the " mummeries " of his abhorrence are to be taken as the High.Church proceedings ; at which he is commonly believed to have assisted hebdomadally for some years when in London, and with the nature of which he must therefore be well acquainted. Then, if in office, he will, as Prime Minister, (always with the assistance -of the Archbishop of •Canterbury,) reform our liturgy, suppress sitar-lights, &c, or out of office, will lead the crusade as popular churchwarden against such enormities. Such have always been his opinions; now he has the
wished-
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