em that it is the religious as well as the
political duty of Catholics to endeavour to avert this peril, and to
defend from the attacks of the Radicals and from the contempt of the
Tories the only constitution which bears some resemblance to those of
Catholic times, and the principles which are almost as completely
forgotten in England as they are misunderstood abroad. If three
centuries of Protestantism have not entirely obliterated the ancient
features of our government, if they have not been so thoroughly barren
of political improvement as some of its enemies would have us
believe,--there is surely nothing to marvel at, nothing at which we may
rejoice. Protestants may well have, in some respects, the same
terrestrial superiority over Catholics that the Gentiles had over the
people of God. As, at the fall of paganism, the treasures it had
produced and accumulated during two thousand years became the spoils of
the victor,--when the day of reckoning shall come for the great modern
apostasy, it will surrender all that it has gathered in its diligent
application to the things of this world; and those who have remained in
the faith will have into the bargain those products of the Protestant
civilisation on which its claims of superiority are founded.

When, therefore, in the political shipwreck of modern Europe, it is
asked which political form of party is favoured by the Church, the only
answer we can give is, that she is attached to none; but that though
indifferent to existing forms, she is attached to a spirit which is
nearly extinct. Those who, from a fear of exposing her to political
animosity, would deny this, forget that the truth is as strong against
political as against religious error, and shut their eyes to the only
means by which the political regeneration of the modern world is a
possibility. For the Catholic religion alone will not suffice to save
it, as it was insufficient to save the ancient world, unless the
Catholic idea equally manifests itself in the political order. The
Church alone, without influence on the State, is powerless as a security
for good government. It is absurd to pretend that at the present day
France, or Spain, or Naples, are better governed than England, Holland,
or Prussia. A country entirely Protestant may have more Catholic
elements in its government than one where the population is wholly
Catholic. The State which is Catholic _par excellence_ is a by-word for
misgovernment, becaus