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THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL.
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~~ > OMA LOCUTsl JSiST ; so an enu controversy Jji "No Surrender '' " -is the mot d ' ordre shouted : from the Vatican , and handed on With the fiery cross throughout the serried legions of the faithful . The Encyclical is the answer to the Imperial advice to tlie Curia to abandon the YEmilian provinces j and to . be quick about it , if it would not throw away the last chance of keeping Umbria and the Marches . Nor is there any mistaking the spirit which breathes ' . throughout thi « fresh Papal manifesto .. It is war to the knife . ;_ With no less deadly purpose ,. if with the same cat-like stealthiness as marked the distribution of the c 7 iUjmUies amongst our Sepoy regiments three years ago , is the signal of revolt against the secular powerssent through the sable ranks by the Chief Brahmin and Apostle
of Legitimacy . There is the usual amalgam of whine and menace in the missive . A holy dampness suffuses the whole ^ although the editors , for the most part , have spared the handkerchiefs of their readers by considerately suppressing the weeping prophet ' s moistest passages as " verbiage , " leaving us to supply the sighs and groans for ourselves . Everybody knows that , like another Job , with whom Mr . Dickens has familiarised us all , the illustrious sufferer who again passionately calls on " all Patriarchs , Primates , Archbishops , Bishops , and other Ordinaries in grace and communion with the Holy S <; o , " for sympathy and help , always has the main laid 911 , and a . servicepipe ever ready for pious uses .
One is hardly snvprised to find ' a rather more bizarre patchwork of prayers and profane swearing in this instance , than on those less exciting occasions when none but spiritual interests have been at stake . The " buttered thunder " has certainly been laid under heavy contribution . But whether wetted with tears or scorched by blasphemies , every shred of the document speaks one and the ' same unfaltering language . An unflinching and proud resolve not to budge a . foot ' s breadth in tho presence ot any power however imposing , any reason however urgent , or any representations however respectful , is ostentatiously paraded throughout . Appeals to pity , abject as those of an unprotected female , are lavishly resorted to ; but it is only in reinforcement of feminine obstinacy , and for the purpose of enabling that wilful woman , the Church , who will have her way , the better to carry
her point . Non jjoaanmus is still her well-worn text . Tho old flag , with the device of the Cross Keys , is once more nailed to tho creaking mast of Pjetuk ' s labouring bark , and with ( locks cleared for action the crew of the " Immaculate Conception " hurls defiance at the enemy . Sink or swim , all or none must be saved . Tho Holy Father cannot yield one jot of his sovereign authority , which , as he adroitly reminds his largo ; family , he holds only as a life-tenant , and as a sort of trustee for them nil . So the persecuted Pontiff , cheerfully tucking the powder-bags under his arms , calmly prepares for the stake , and is ready to die in delenco of his hoy dioino and indefeasible " right " to dp . pros& and torture his' subjects . Between tho ' apostolic liberty " of roasting Jtheni or being roasted himself , he loaves the linperial Inquisition no possible alternative , unless , indeed ,, tho civil powers would Hko u turn on the spit .
Of eourdo tho Pop '») is terribly in earnest . Wo are to behove that he really courts martyrdom in this moat singular of causes , / . € ., always providing hia' laudable attempt to kindle a ' crusade
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festly indispensable that some hew and stringent law should be made to check the misuse of money at elections . As the case now stands , there is literally no limit to the -extent . to . which - honest candidates may be plundered , or to which profligate candidates may diffuse the taint of corruption . Excessively larpe constituencies are indeed a fertile source of the former evil , as excessively small constituencies are of the latter . But we must not deceive ourselves with the hope that these are the only causes , or that if they were removed either the one or the other would thereupon cease . Take , for example , Norwich , containing six thousand one hundred and seventy-five electors , —or Hull , with its constituency of five thousand four hundred and ninety-four ; vet both of them unhappily notorious for the extravagant cost of their elections , and for the gross misuse of money by both Whig and Tory agents . Nobody at all conversant with such matters ^ speaking under a sense of * moral responsibility , will venture to sav thai the mere lowering of the franchise from £ 10 to . £ 6 would put a stop to extravagant or corrupt expenditure in either place . The price of votes in the market would in oil probability be -lowered ' in proportion as their number was increased ; but no moral or political restraint whatever would thereby be imposed . It is folly to talk of increased risk of exposure when risk there is literally none . Practically , bribery is not an offence . punishable by law , no more than was witchcraft in our grandfathers' time , though certain obsolete statutes declared it to be so . Repressive laws ^ hat don ' t and can ' t work are , to all intents and purposes , no laws at all , and at present we have 110 other . The revelations made in the report of the . Commissioners appointed toinquire into . corrupt practices at Gloucester , must stagger the most incredulous dreamer about purity . Every witness of experience in contested elections —including Sir William Hatter , the late Secretary to the Treasury ; Admiral Berkeley , who was frequently returned for ( xloucester ; Sir Hobjcet CAirtiEN , the late Tory member , and Mr . ¦ Pittcis , his former Whig colleague—concurred , in scoffing at the hypocritical nullity of what is called the . Corrupt Practices " Prevention Act ; and the Commissioners , in very significant terms , intimate their coincidence in the popular belief that Parliament never intended that Act as anything but a screen and a shaui . They accompany this intimation with a most positive and precise declaration of its absolute .. inutility ,. jand with some useful suggestions on various . points whenever the subject . shall be seriously taken in hand . One of these is , that any candidate should be _ j ) rccliuied , under the ¦ penalties ' of a misdemeanour , from paying anylnoney , L ' . ' . Uer-before or after the election , save through the election agent and auditor ; another is that some limit shall be ]) laced on the employment of solicitors as agent ? , and of humble inen as messengers or subordinate canvassers . Mr . Mellok , Q ,. v ' ., who represents Nottingham in the present ilouse of Commons , ' ias obtained leave to bring in a bill embodying these suggestior -, as well as . some others professedly aimed « it the direct traffic in votes , lie proposes that either the briber or t he bribed should be exonerated from legal consequences upon his turning approver , and giving true testimony in a criminal proceeding against the other party to the crime ; and he would give a discretion to the judgo who tried the case to sentence , the offender to hard labour as well as imprisonment for six months . IJut who is to prosecute ? Mr . Mellok says anybody that likes , provided lie gives security to the extent of J 62 OO for the payment of costs in case- the charge turned out to be unsustainable ! We fervently hope the House of Commons will spare itself the ignominy which must attach to the enactment of a law so . flagrantly farcical and worse than foolish . Prosecutions for bribery will , never be undertaken by private individuals , save in rare and worthless instances , where sonic personal object is to bo gained . Prosecutions for other offences are undertaken daily , from an active sense of individual wrong or injury sustained . Tint it is contrary to tho instincts of English life that a respect , able citizen should ' turn delator against his fellow-citizens who have done hint no harm : and if prosecutions wore attempted by any mere party tool or liack , the disgust and resistance they would provoke would speedily warp the integrity of witnesses , and paralyze the judicial rigour of jurors . There is but ono way of dealing with tho matter , and that is by appointing a number of men of standing , learning , and integrity to initiate , prepare , and conduct prosecutions in tho name of the Crown , as for an ofl ' cnco against the public health und public weal . Tho espouse of such proceedings ought in every case to be borne by the county or borough where the offence hod been ' committed ; . for we take it as now ulmost « conoeded , that nottiing- is more important thatf to bring * he moral pressure of the community to bear upon tho tendencies to electoral corruption . A difficulty has been suggested with regard to juries , who , it is supposed , would bo unwilling to give verdicts iigainsfc their neighbours or townsmen : and some persona of great woiyht and experience have , recommended that upon any
sufficient allegation on oath of such a danger to the due administration of justice , the criminal plaint should be heard in an adjoining , county . But , upon the whole , we are not much inclined to fear the defeat of justice by the means referred to . A muqh more serious question seems to us to arise upon the motive which the receiver of a bribe must have to turn approver upon the person who offered it . We are , in general , very averse to holding out the inducements of" pecuniary--rewards , for testimony . We feel all the danger with which the practice is surrounded , and we should much rather try in the first instance what could be accomplished without resort to such stimulants . As for the infliction of hard labour as an aggravation of punishment , we own we think it inapplicable to the nature of the case . Those who are likely to be found guilty of the offence , must often be of a class to whom such a punishment would be exceedingly severe , while to others , not less criminal , it would , by reason of their previous habits , be a matter of comparative indifference ; and yet if the j udgc were to sentence a merchant or a solicitor to mere imprisonment for having given five pounds to a working man for his vote , and on the same day to sentence a shipwright or a weaver to the same term of incarceration with hard labour , nothing would clear the bench from the imputation of class injustice . We had much rather see the establishment of certainty than of severity-in the administration of our criminal code ; and we know the two things to be incompatible .
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10 er The deader and Saturday Analyst . ^ ^ L ^* - > 18 ^<> -
The Pope's Encyclical.
THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 106, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/6/
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