s advantage in this fact, if
advantage it be; for I do not bring forward the conduct of the senate of
Venice, as Daru does, by way of an example of the general science of
government. The Venetians accomplished therein what we ridiculously call
a separation of "Church and State" (as if the State were not, in all
Christendom, necessarily also the Church[94]), but _ought_ to call a
separation of lay and clerical officers. I do not point out this
separation as subject of praise, but as the witness borne by the
Venetians against the principles of the Papacy. If they were to blame,
in yielding to their fear of the ambitious spirit of Rome so far as to
deprive their councils of all religious element, what excuse are we to
offer for the state, which, with Lords Spiritual of her own faith
already in her senate, permits the polity of Rome to be represented by
lay members? To have sacrificed religion to mistaken policy, or
purchased security with ignominy, would have been no new thing in the
world's history; but to be at once impious and impolitic, and seek for
danger through dishonor, was reserved for the English parliament of
1829.

I am glad to have this opportunity of referring to, and farther
enforcing, the note on this subject which, not without deliberation, I
appended to the "Seven Lamps;" and of adding to it the following
passage, written by my father in the year 1839, and published in one of
the journals of that year:--a passage remarkable as much for its
intrinsic value, as for having stated, twelve years ago, truths to which
the mind of England seems but now, and that slowly, awakening.

"We hear it said, that it cannot be merely the Roman religion that
causes the difficulty [respecting Ireland], for we were once all Roman
Catholics, and nations abroad of this faith are not as the Irish. It is
totally overlooked, that when we were so, our government was despotic,
and fit to cope with this dangerous religion, as most of the Continental
governments yet are. In what Roman Catholic state, or in what age of
Roman Catholic England, did we ever hear of such agitation as now exists
in Ireland by evil men taking advantage of an anomalous state of
things--Roman Catholic ignorance in the people, Protestant toleration in
the government? We have yet to feel the tremendous difficulty in which
Roman Catholic emancipation has involved us. Too late we discover that a
Roman Catholic is wholly incapable of being safely connected with th