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privileged possessors of salvation , who do all admajoremDeigloriam , to ignore the profaner sensibilities of pur common nature except for the darker purposes of enlisting a passion in the service of intrigue . A letter from the amiable and accomplished Massimo d'Azeglio has been published , in which the minister who led the policy of Piedmont " with so much sagacity and moderation through a perilous crisis , and retired from power with so much dignity
and feeling , says , that as the authorities of the Church persist in narrowing the question to the Constitution or the Concordat , he cannot hesitate to pronounce unequivocally for the Constitution , though he might at one time have been content with the Concordat . It would have been impossible to- put the case with more circumspection . " But we who are bound to no such precautions of opinion can have no hesitation in declaring our conviction that the measures now under the
consideration of the Piedroontese Legislature , the suppression of monastic houses , and the secularisation of ecclesiastical property in Piedmont , were absolutely necessary to ensure the safety , not to say the harmonious working , of the new institutions . The advantages to be derived from these changes will be financial as well as moral . In a small State like Piedmont
twenty millions of francs are of importance at a time when public works , especially railways , absorb more and more of capital ; six hundred large and commodious edifices , appropriated to benevolent lor educational purposes , are not to be despised . The Sardinian Government , by taking twenty millions of francs from the hands of ten thousand monks and nuns , whose sole
occupation was to perpetuate ignorance , corruption , and superstition among the people , confers upon the State a national and a lasting benefit . The only obstacle to be feared was , that public opinion might not be sufficiently enlightened for the change ; hence , it was wise to proceed cautiously , until the growing intelligence of the population could more fully appreciate the advantages of a liberalising administration . The Siccardi act , which in 1850 abolished the Ecclesiastical Court , was the
. first step in the . new , policy _;_ the Ratazzi ^ act for the suppression of convents is the second . If this minister has erred it has certainly not been in the direction of temerity . He has proposed a partial , not a total suppression . This concession , regarded as a sign of weakness , has only encouraged the proverbial , insolence of Rome , whose device is ever " tyranny to the weak . " The Sardinian Minister has already found that half measures with Rome are the most dangerous of faults .
The contest at Vienna between Pope Pius VI . and Joseph II . in 1781 and 1782 , is an historical proof of this assertion . The circumstances are a complete parallel . The Emperor , without consulting the Pope , decreed the suppression of certain monasteries and religious houses ; the Papal Nuncio at Vienna remonstrated in the name of the Holy See , maintaining that the law was injurious to religion , to the Church , and to the salvation of souls ; that it was a violation of the rights of the Pope , which , if carried out might make his subjects forget their allegiance to their sovereign . To this the Austrian Minister promptly and resolutely replied : That the abuses introduced b y tho monastic institutions had nothing to do with Christianity as preached by the Apostles , and , therefore , could be reformed without interfering either with religion or with the salvation of souls ; that the Pope had no right to meddle with tho affairs of tho States ; that the jurisdiction of tho Holy See , in foreign States , could onl y extend to dogmas and to purely spiritual matters ; and in these , his sovereign gave full liberty of
conscience to his subjects , well knowing , in case of disobedience , how to make his own will respected . Pius VI ., dissatisfied with this answer , went to Vienna , in 1782 , expressly to settle the question . Not only , did he finally obtain nothing in favour of the suppressed convents , he was compelled to concede matters of even greater importance . Nevertheless , he proclaimed , in full Consistory , that the Emperor Joseph II . was the most devout man , and the most religious Sovereign in all the Catholic dominions .
In 1850 , at the very time when the Sardinian Government was banishing the Archbishop Franzoni to Fenestrelle , for having disobeyed the law which had ? abolished the Ecclesiastical Court , the Austrian Government condemned two Hungarian bishops—the one to be hanged , and the other to twenty years imprisonment in chains . Pius IX ., so arrogant , overbearing , and subversive in his resistance to the constitutional independence of Piedmont , had not the courage to intercede with Austria even for a mitigation of the sentences passed on these ^ two bishops . Such is the judicious audacity of Rome .
Can we wonder that when the Sardinian Minister asked the Papal leave , before he ventured to propose the * new laws , the Pope refused , and , through his organs in the press , stirred up a diplomatic and parliamentary opposition ? While we cannot refuse our sympathy and our praise to a Government that , under peculiar emergencies , has dared to lay hands on venerable abuses which have corrrupted equally religion and society , and has given to Italy an
example of freedom and independence , we are unable to conceal our regret at unseasonable hesitations and causeless fears . In Italy , at Venice , even as early as 1606 , the Council of Ten banished the Jesuits , and the Pope Paul V . sent forth a Monitory . The Government declared it null , and expelled , not only the Jesuits , but also the Capucines . The
people looked on with derision . Priests and monks preached against the Pope , who finally had recourse to entreaties ; but in vain . The Venetian Government not only rejected . theJesuits ,, but .. obliged .. Paul .. V . . _ Jto _ humiliate himself by withdrawing the Monitory . We cannot suppose that the Piedmontese , after a lapse of two centuries and a half , will act with less firmness .
On the contrary , we know on the best authority that the King is more determined than ever to carry out , not these reforms only , but others also , restrictive of the encroachments of the Church ; among these may be mentioned , the law of marriage by civil contract ; the total , instead of the partial , suppression of convents ; the limitation of the number of bishops and of their large revenues ; and the amelioration of the condition of the parish priests and the poorer clergy . But as the Church of Rome will certainly prevent , as far as possible , the fulfilment of these intentions , we may expect to see ere long an interesting Reformation spring up in Italy , of which the King Victor Emmanuel will , wo trust , deserve to be the historical leader .
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A SHAKE OF "THE SYSTEM . " A precedent is a groat thing in England , and it appears to us that in the appointment of what is called the sanitary commission , which has recently left London for the Crimea , may be found precisely tho precedent to justify a complete revolution in " the system . " Wo cannot lay much stress upon the selection of General Simpson as dry-nurse to General Raglan j that is an innovation upon our military arrangements ; it is merely an
adoption of the military arrangement of other nations ; the idea proceeds from the upholders of the system ,. who thus seek to sustain , by a small reform , the aristocratic predominance in the- " Staff . " But the appointment of the Commission , consisting of Dr . Sutherland , Dr . Gavin , and Mr . Robert Rawlinson , is a very different matter . They are civilians : they are men without a uniform ; without the mysterious authority of epaulettes : and yet they are to
be the real Generals—the real organizers , in everything but pure tactics on the day of battle ,- —of the British army . We say this advisedly ; for we understand that the Commission signed by Lord Panmure , and which they will have to present to Lord Raglan , is so comprehensive , in its delegation from the Crown , of power and authority , that , virtually , it supersedes Lord Raglan himself , the Staff , the Commissariat , and the - Medical Department . " Do anything—do everything , " that is
Lord Palmerston ' s " general orders" to these three gentlemen ; and they have gone —without one inch of red-tape in their outfits—unfettered by the least fear of routine , resolved to face all the facts , and to remedy every evil in the malorganization of the army— -if the " authorities " resist , to put down the authorities ! N ~ , this is precisely what was wanted—what the public has been demanding . What was needed was head — was men : Lord Palme rston has picked the best men he could get , and he has made them Dictators . Lord Palmerston has
in this appointment proved himself aware of the emergencies , and in a desperate position has perpetrated what the official mind , when awakened to the actual circumstances , will certainly regard as a very desperate innovation . The character of Mr . Rawlinson , well known injns profession , augurs very serious results ; and though
we are not underrating the courage or capacity of his colleagues—very eminent men—yet it would appear to be the understanding that while to their science , experience , and discernment , Lord Palmerston looks for the suggestion of the remedies , the work of the organization is left to the practical manager of multitudes and material , Mr .
Ra \ £ LTnsqn . He islone of . jtjho ^ e _ remarkable men created by the circumstances of the half century—he is of the Peto , Dargan * , Stephenson , and Locke class . Commencing life as a railway employe , he has ~ risen , by the development of superior intellect , energy , and thoroughly reliable character , in acquiring fame and fortune , as an engineer of
practical science , and , specially , as a sanitary organizer of crowded towns . He is , iu short , a man precisely of the genius required at this moment to turn to account the labour of the army in making that army healthy and comfortable : and we may rest assured that neither fear nor favours will be permitted to intercept him in the discharge of an allotted duty . We called for a man to save the army , and
there he is . But that is an awful disturbance of the system ! Wo give Lord Palmerston tho highest credit for doing this wise thing . But how does ho reconcile the resort to these plebeian civilian commissioners—men of mere brainswith his late vindication of the aristocracy at the expense of the publi < j departments which are not aristocratic ? A nd if we are to have not
men of this stamp at Balaklava , why in those still more perplexing scenes of confusion in Downing-street ? Why , in Parliament , depend upon coteries , and connexions , and families , when , " at the seat of war , we are obliged , in the last resort , to appeal to veMtable intellect , vigour , and virility ? Surely we are not to apply common sense to tho effects , while tho great original cause remains sacred to the traditions of an effete governing class ?
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¦ " C - ¦ ' ^ M % , 1855 . J THE -LEADER . 205
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1855, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2080/page/13/
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