member of the French Academy, has lost none of its freshness.

We reproduce it almost in extenso, from an excellent pamphlet by Monsignor de Segur, entitled "Remarks on the Protestantism of the Present Day:❞—

"We opened this book anxious to say all the good we could of it, but with all the good-will in the world it is impossible to think well of it, or even of the feeling that inspired it. It sets forth the most senseless and despairing materialism, and if a minister of the gospel has no better moral to present to the world, nothing remains for mankind at large than to feed well and be prosperous; the richest man will always be the most virtuous.

In the comparison of Catholic and Protestant nations under the three-fold aspects of well-being, enlightenment, and morality, morality, which ought to occupy the first place, is mentioned last, enlightenment comes second, but well-being and prosperity are given the first rank and brought prominently forward.

In the course of two volumes M. Roussel asserts that Protestants are infinitely happier in this world than Catholics, that they possess larger fortunes, more wealth, and in short greater luxuries of every sort.

Hitherto we had always believed that at the final day of judgment God would place on one side the good, on the other the bad; but according to this theory mankind should be divided into the two categories of rich and poor.

In Protestant theology it would seem that in order to be saved, respectability and wealth are essential.

M. Roussel, as usual with men of his school, contrasts what he is pleased to call the wretchedness of Catholic Ireland with the prosperity of Protestant Scotland, of course to the disparagement of the former, forgetful of the different treatment these countries

have received at the hands of the English governments. Like persons suffering from jaundice, who see everything through a yellow glass, he ferrets out the Catholic religion from places where one would scarcely have supposed it would penetrate, and contrasts it with a prosperous and wealthy Scotch county town.

He draws two pictures, one of an Irish fight and the use of the shillelaghs, which he condemns, and another of an English pugilistic encounter, which he deems worthy of all praise.

He enlarges on the qualities of these noble prize-fighters who profess Protestantism, and the admirable blows of the fist which are doubtless inspired by faith.

It is unnecessary to follow M. Roussel in the similar chain of argument applied to Switzerland and other countries; but as regards Ireland, no one would dispute the worldly advantages of the Protestants, nor would anyone who had studied history refuse to allow that the poverty of the Catholics was in a great measure the result of Protestant legislation.

If the Protestant party, for example, represent one-tenth only of the population, by what right did they confiscate the whole of the property and revenues of the Church? And when M. Roussel, in order to prove that the Catholics are no longer oppressed, informs us that they possess a hierarchy composed of four archbishops and twenty-four bishops, and 2,500 churches and over 2,000 priests, ought he not himself to be inspired with some amount of admiration for this poverty-stricken race, who out of their wretchedness and squalor, could yet find the means to support their Church, whilst the Protestant bishops and clergy were in possession of those revenues that anciently belonged to them?

How is it that a man calling himself a minister of the Gospel does not bear in mind a certain text, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, this poor widow has given more than all who have put into the treasury, for they all have given of their abundance; but she

of her want has given all she had, even all her substance.' How is it that he can disregard the words of our Lord, 'I say unto you again, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.'”

It is in this way that sectarian spirit blinds many otherwise excellent persons; and in the attempt to put forth moral and religious sentiments, their conclusions become unwittingly in their essence materialistic and anti-Christian. True national prosperity consists in a nation's living so that it may have the majority of its members in a fit state for their entry into another world; and no one can prove that Protestantism is better calculated than Catholicism to produce such a result.

The pretended sterility of Catholic nations-Meaning of the word colonization-Catholics in the Philippine Islands-In India-English colonies-Dutch colonies-Catholicism in the United States-Colonization of missionaries.

R

OMAN Catholic nations seem stricken with

sterility, they no longer colonize, and they seem to possess no powers of expansion.

The expression, viduitas et sterilitas, made use of by M. Thiers to describe the city of Rome, might equally well be applied to them.

Their past has no doubt been brilliant, but the present is gloomy, and their future prospect calculated to cause uneasiness.

Such is the language used by our opponents.

No man of impartiality could accept such state

ments.

Never at any epoch of the world's history has Rome been less inactive and less like a widow, never has she given less symptoms of sterility.

Never has the world witnessed the display of greater extremes of devotion and hostility towards the See of Peter, capitoli immobile saxum, than at the present.

Does anyone imagine that it is merely for the sake of admiring the ruins of the town of the Cæsars, or studying the recent projects of Garibaldi, that such masses of pilgrims flock thither from all quarters of the globe? Setting aside the triple crown of the tiara, we ask in all seriousness, is there in the whole universe a single individual who bears so unmistakably stamped on his forehead the sign of royalty, as the present pontiff, Pius IX. ?1

Has there been in the last six centuries any Pope whose teachings, injunctions, and even simple recommendations have been more productive of result?

The re-establishment of a territorial hierarchy in Holland and England, the organization of more than fifty dioceses in America, the foundation of the vast

'Since the above was written Pope Pius IX. has died, and the accents of praise in which he has been spoken of by the Protestant and Liberal press throughout Europe testify to the truth of our remark. The reflection will apply equally to the present Pontiff, Leo XIII.