THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPF. (FROM THE TIMES' PARIS CORRESPONDENT.) Paris, Saturday, Nov. 22, 6 p.m.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1742, 18 February 1863, Page 5

THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPF. (FROM THE TIMES' PARIS CORRESPONDENT.) Paris, Saturday, Nov. 22, 6 p.m.

Prince Napoleon's, or M. Hubaine's pamphlet has, it is said, been published against the wishes of the Emperor. I smpeet, however, that the displeasure is not very strong, and that his Majesty really disapproves what his cousin has now done as little as ho disapproved other tiring* in times gone by, however appearances may have led people to suppose the contrary. Not only on the Roman question, but on some others, the Emperor and the Prince are oftener agreed than the world gives them credit for. Froui the preface which I sent you on Thursday you may judge the scope and the object of the pamphlet* which is in great part the reproduction of certain portions of the despatches and writings of the various diplomatic agents of France to the Roman Court in the time of Lonis XIV. and subsequently, quoted or alluded to by Prince Napoleon in his famous speech in the Senate in March last. It couaiits of four parts— tho fiiat of which 1 elates to the temporal power of the Pope in the 17th md 18th centuries. There are extracts from the despatches of the Duke de Chartres (1669) on the Pontificate of Clement IX. ; of M. de Coulange's (1691) on Alexander VIII. ; of M. d'Aubeterre (1765) on the Government of Clement XIII. ; and of Caidinal de Bernis (1771 to 1791) on that of Clement XIV. and Pius VI. Clement XIV., whose name before he was elected to the Pontifical throne was Gauganelli, acquired celebrity by his brief suppressing the Order of the Jesuits in 1778. Pius VI. brings us down to the French Revolution. What is related by the Ambassador of Louis XV. is very probably correct. But Bernis will, perhaps, be thought not much of an authority on any subject where his testimony is not supported by others. While yet an Abbg he was principally known for his somewhat licentious poetiy, his gallantries, and the seni'e com the paid to Madame Pompadour (the imperious and powerful mistiest of the King), through whose influence he obtained a pension and a seat in the French Academy at 29 In 1759 he was nominated to the Archiepiscopal See of AIM ; and five years later to the Embassy at Rome, which he held till the breaking out of the Revolution, which stripped him of all his ill-got wealth. He obtained through his fiiend the Chevalier A7ara an allowance from the Court of Madrid ; he returned to Rome and died there in 1794. The poetry of this jovial Cardinal, on whom Voltaire bestowed the name of Babet La Boiiquetieie, consists of madrigals, anacreontics, &c. Another poem, La Itcligion Ycngte, is also attributed to him. Be the, reputation of Beinis good or bad, the other writers quoted in the pamphlet concur with him in condemning the vicious administration of the Papal Government, and give many instances of nepotism and rapacity. The sums levied from the Catholic States of Europe were enormous. Beinis states that in the course of one century Franco paid not less than 40,000,000f. A note appended to the Caulinal's account says : —

"The following statement, copied fiom the accounts Addressed every year to the Minister by Cardinal de Bernis, shows that theieis no exaggeiation hi the abovo estimate. It must be observed that the embassy obtained a reduction of about one-tliird on the sums demanded, and the following are the totals of the sums really paid in a certain number of years ! — 1775, 280,000 livres ; 1774, 342,000 livies ; 1777, 470,494 livres; 7 775, 567,540 livres j 1779, 465.952 hvrcs ; 1753, 427,579 lhres; 1754, 432,258 livies; 1787, 477,087 llvrea ; 17SS, 660,518 livres According to the conventions regulating the fees to be paid to the Court of Rome for bulls instituting to bishoprics and benefices in France, one third of the proceeds was assigned to the Pope, one-third to the Saored College, and the other tlmdto the payment of annuities assigned on these fees. (Despatch of the Cardinal, of tho Bth of March, 1775.) On the mode of transacting the business of the Datevia, and the abuses which had arisen therein, sac a note anneved to the Despatch of M. de Bernis, of the Stb of March, 1775. To these sums must be added the annats pa) able in virtue of the same treaties, and of which the average annual prooeeds from 1779 to 1788 were 367,695 livies. (Account addressed by the Nuncio to the Duke de la Vauguyon, 14th of August, 1789.) The contingent of Fiance w.-w trifling in compamon to that drawn from (Spanish devotion: — 'If the King of Kpain should order the suppression of the proceedings for the canonisation of Spanish subjects, he would deprive the Court of Home of neaily 1,000,000 livies a year, obtained fiora that ■qurce alone.' (Despatch of the Caulhml of the 2nd of September, 1778 ") Tlie second pint of the pamphlet l elates to tho Pap-iev under the Fjrst Empire ; and the documents fftr the year 1810 are given in full. They consist of a despatch, dated January 2.3, from the Fiench agent J d'Qrtpli to tite Dpke' de Cudore, iHnister of Foreign 4paira undef Napoleon I. ; of the' despatch from the puke, February 13, to the Emperor on theaff.ihs of Pome, enumerating the efforts of the Tmperin) Ooye"isne))t to obtain reforms from tfie .papal Gomt, and its repeat**} refusals ; of tj. repqrt fvqm the Duke qn the }Bt}> pf februaiy to t|>e Emperor \ HllU of tliveo .'!*«- patohes from d'Orloll. writ**.. '- "' v - 1 * " . . ..i ati.»rch, May, and umyoi me same year. In these documents ihe necessity of a separation of the temporal from the spnitual power is strongly urged. The third part consists of documents concerning the toraparol power under the Restoration. A consecutne narrative is given of the Pope's leturn to his States in viitue of Article 103 of the Kuppleinentaiy Act of June, 1815, at the Congress of Vienna; of the abusive manner in which the large possessions restored to him weie administered ; of the discontent of his subjects, and of the efforts of the agents of the French Gu\ eminent to bring about some improvement. Extiocts are given from the despatches written fiom Rome by M. Cortojs de Preskigny to M. de Talleyrand in 1815, and to the Duke de Richelieu in 1810 ; from M. de Bl.ic.ts d' Aulpa, who succeeded him, and who declares in a despatch of May 4, 1816, that the Italians were so disaffected that if they could get any Power to aid them they would certainly throw off the Papal yoke a.nd proclaim their independence ; fi o>n the Duke de Montmoiency-Laval, French Ambassador at Rome at the death of Pius VII., in 1823; and from M. de Chateaubriand, who succeeded him in 1828. The following is extracted from a despatch wiitten by the last-named statesman to Count de La Ferronnftye, Minister of Foieign Affairs, on the state of the Roman Government under Leo KIT. : —

"When M. de Chateaubriand anived afc Kome, the Pontiff to whom he was accredited had only a few months to live. Leo XII, died on the 10 th February, 182 D, at the age of 89, fiom a serious malady which, had long tlnoatened his life. The following is the portrait sketched of him by the illustiious Ambassador in a despatch of the 12 th of January. — 'Leo XII. labours hard, he sleeps little, and tcarcely eats anything ; there only remains to him one of his youthful tastes— that of field sports, an exercise necessary to his health, which appears to improve. He fires some shots in the vast enclosure of the gardens of the Vatican The Zelanti can «oarcely pardon him this recreation. The Pope is reproached wtyh weakness of character and of inconsistency in his affections.'" M. de Chateaubriand afterwards makes the follow-

ing reflections : — " The radical defect in the political constitution of this country may be leadily discovered. They are old men who choose as Sovereign an old man like themselves ; and this one, having become master in his turn, appoints aged men as cardinals. The supreme power, turning in this defective circle, is always exeroined on the edge of the tomb. The Prince nevsr remains long enough on the throne to carry out any of the plans of amelioration, which he may have conceived. It is necessary that the Pope should have resolution enough to make at once a numerous promotion of young cardinals, so as to secure a majority at the future election for a young Pontiff. But the regulations of Sextus V., which give the hat to those holding office in the palace ; the empire of habits and customs ; the interests of those who receive gratification* at every change of the tiara ; the individual ambition of the cardinals, who prefer short reigns in order to multiply their chances to the Papacy, an! a thousand other obstacles too long to mention, are opposed to the introduction of this youthful element into the Sacied College." The pamphlet then goes on to say : — "Pius VIII., the successor of Leo XII., and the C«n,didate of France, took for Minister Cardinal Albani, a partisan of Austria, who acted with rigour •gainst the secret *ooietie», and particularly occupied the attention of French policy by his views in favour of the plans of the Court of Vienna. On thia subject we shall quote the following prophetic phrases from a despatch of M. de Chateaubriand, of the 16th of April, 1829, which draw* a sketoh of the situation of Italy on the eve of the revolution which was to bring about the triumph of the Liberal* in France, and inspire vain hopes bejond the Alps:— 'The world takes for conspiracies what i« only * general uneasiness, the result oj the time, the *trnegle of old society with the new, the cijinbat of the decrepitude of the old institutions ngainit the energy of young generations, and, lastly, the comparison which every one makes between what is and what might be. Let us not dissemble the fact ; the great spectacle of powerful France, free and happy, that grand speotacle which strikes the eyes of nations which stil| remained, or have again fallen, under |;he yp,l{e, eiccites. regrets and nourishes hopes. It is not a few poor devil* of Carbonari, excited by the manomvre* of the police and hunor without mercy, who raise thu country. The most erroneous ideas are given to the Government uto the real state cf thing! ; they are pwrented. from doing wh»t they ought to do for their

xnfety by always showing them as the puiticultu' conspii iioios of a haiulfnl of Jacobins, which it the, effeob of a general and permanent came. Such is the real position of Italy; each of its States is tormented by some moral malady. Piedmont is delivered up to a fanatical faction, the Jesuits ; the Milauais in devoured by the Austiians, aud the domains of the Holy Father are ruined by the bad management of tho finances. At Naples the weakness of the Government is only saved by the cowardice of the people. The anticipathiet of the teiritorial divisions also add to the difficulties of an internal movement ; but if any impulse wore to be given from without, or if any Prince within the Alps were to grant a charter to hi* subjects, a revolution would take place, because all is ripe for it. More fortunato than us, and instructed by our experience, the peoplo would be spaiing in the crimes and misfOlf 01 tunes of which welm\e been so prodigal. " Tho fourth and last part in of a more miscellaneous character, and contains opinions from various quartern on the tempoi al power of tho Popes. The first given is taken from a letter addressed by Machiavelli to Lorenzo do Medici, and which, observes M. Hubaine, might be supposed to bo intended for Victor Emmanuel. Machiavelli calls upon Lorenzo to put himself at the head of the enterprise for the independence of his country. " The Italians," he says, — "Are comageous when they have leaders. If your illustrious house would imitate the great citizens of old who delivered their country it must have, above ill, a national army, for you cannot have one more faithful or more sure. And though each soldier is good, all will become better when they shall sec their Prince commanding them, esteeming, and recompensing them. It ia therefore necessary to prepare an army of this kind in order to defend, by Italian valour, the country against the foreigner. You must not allow tho present oppoitunity to pass by. After waiting so long Italy must at last pee its liberator appear. I cannot toll you with what lovo ho would be received by all tho provinces which have suffeied from foreign invasion, and with what thirst of vengeance, v ith what obsti nate fidelity, with what piety, with what tears of gi.atitiule Wheio are the gates that would be closed against him ? What people would refuse to obey him ] What jealousies would he have to encounter ? Is there an Italian who w onld not assist him ? To e\ery one of them the domination of the br.rbaiiau is an infection. Let jour illustiious house undertake this mission, strong in the com age and tho hopes which accompany all undertakings that are based on justice ; and our country, matching under your standard, will be lestoied to its rank, and, under your auspices, will realise these *oids of Petraich :—: — ' ' ' Courage against madness shall take up arms and combat but once ; " ' For the old valour is not yet extinct in the heaits of Italians."" The following is another e\ti act from M. de Chateaubriand in his Eltuhs Ilistoriqucr : — " When nations had lost their rights, religion, which alone was then enlightened and powerful, became the holder of them. At piesent, when the people resume those, rights, the Papacy will nutmally abdicate the temporal functions, and will lcsigit tho guardianship to its great pupil now ariived at the age of majoiity. I think that the political age of Christianity has finished; that its philosophical age commences, and that tho Papacy will no longer bo anything moie than the pure source where the puuciple of faith, in the most rational and most extended seiihe, will pieserve itself." The writer of the pamphlet goes on to say :—: — "In a despfctoh of the 20th December, 1812, M. de St. Aulane, tho French Ambassador, gave an account of a convocation which had taken place between him and Cardinal Bemetti, then directing Minister of the Pontifical policy, on the question of the Legations. 'The Caidinal,' said M. do St. Aulauo, expressing himself more unreservedly than ho wan in the habit of doing, 'teplied to me neaily in the following terms :—: — My pei sonal opinion is that secularisation is inevitable; it will take place a little sooner or a little later, hut never will the Pope pronounce it, and he will be right. 1. Because it will not suit him to take on himself all the hatied whloh an existence ruinous aud humiliating for the cardinals will provoke. 2. Because that ineaMiH', spontaneously pioclaimed by the lope, has) for speedy consequence tho complete distinction of the ecclesiastical Government; if it be the wKh of tbo people which today duvet the Ptelature out of the Legations, the same wish will be exptcsed to morrow with not less violence in the Matches, and on the day after in Umbrin. TVny will the Pope lefuse to the one what he will have granted to the others ? The condition will be better in yielding to the Great Poweia; injuied by it in the rights of independent Sovereign, w ill be uot at least have given to his peqple an encouiaging proof Cjf his weakness 'i If wiU be better for linn to resign himself |b t^ie formally e\piessed will of Europe than to confess himself van q'uished by his subjects, apd to al|ow a, concession to be wrested from him, far more fata,] in, itj qonjeque.uc.ps thaninjfself" In is\7 ty t]o liamarthiA — pnVtU Quvwnw" * " , ionounced on the tern...» oi the Pope the following severe woids* — " Rarely has the world rendered an account to itself of the singular, complicated, and confused mechanism of the Papal Government at Rome, considered as a temporal power. It may be defined in these few woids • — The defects of all kinds of Governments without their advantages, united in one single Government In fact, do not ciy out against it, but reflect. The Government of the temporal Papacy of Rome is at the same time a theocracy, or the Gi>\ eminent of an eternal Pontificate ; an oligarchy, or the Government of a petty gioup of influential men in the State — the cardinals ; a lnonaichy, for the Pope is king ; a Republic, for the chiefs of the oligarchy elect him ; a democracy, for election is there the principle of the Sovereignty, and lastly a foreign domination, for the caidinals, the grand electors of that elective monarchy, belong to all the powere of Italy, friends or enemies of Rome, aud to all the Catholic natio is of tho globe, strangers to the interests of Rome. Thus this mode of Government has the inconveniences, the weaknesses, the tyrannies, the disorders, and defects of theociacv, of oligaichy, of aiistociacy, of demociacy, of monarchy, of republic, and of foieign domination. But it has none of their advantages, and why' Because to all those defects it adds the greatest of all in matters of Government — instability. It is temporary, shoit, precarious, and fugitive ; the electoral oligarchy of the cardinals, urgent, as the Roman histoiy said, to see an end of and to devour this reign of a moment, elected an old man, chose a decrepit hand, in order to sooner have to relieve it from the weight of a sceptre. Sometimes it i« deceived, and meets with a Sixtus-Quintus ; but in all cases the ideas of the Pope die with him. In such aGovernment theie is no hereditary succession, no survivance of sj stem, no constitution to guarantee the future ; the Pope of yesterday does not engage him of to-morow. All policy is merely personal ; everything depends on one man's life. The cardinals, belonging to Powers either livals of, or hostile to, Italy, act in concert to elect a chief who may be a docile instalment in their hands ; the reaction against the preceding reign begins with the new one. The Pope, dependent on the Powers for the inteiests of his Church as Pontiff, is compelled to be also dependent as an Italian Sovereign. ItfJy confederated against the Powers would have for the centre and chief of her confederation the compelled ally of her enemies." In the same year, 1847, M. Rossi, then Ambassador at Rome, wrote to M. Guizot : — "July 28, 1847.

"In 10 years, in 20 yearn, I cannot pay exactly when, there will not be in the Italian States a man, a woman, a functionary, a magistrate, a monk, or a soldier, in whom the national sentiment will not predominate over every other. What can prevent this, unless we pretend to exterminate Italy and make it a land of helots ' We must resign ourselves to what a future, more or less distant, enrries in its womb." M. de Rnyneval wrote on the 25th of August, 1849 :— " I cannot say that this news (that of the French intervention to re-establish the Pope at Rome\ has been received with any very great joy ; it has surprised and offended. I have often repeated, our aid was endured, not desired. A refusal on the pait of Franca, which should have left the field free for Austria and Naples, would have gatified all the desires of the Court of Gaeta. I except the Pope, who is the least of all prejudiced against us." On the 32th of March, 1862, M. Billault, Minister without portfolio, when replying to M. Keller in the name of the Government, explicitly confirmed before the Legislative Body the conteuts of the documents which we publish. M. Billault said :—: — ' ( You think the Roman Government perfect ; you have complained that the testimony of Cardinal de Bernis has been cited against your opinion, and you have made a triumphant onslaught on that cardinal's morality. Well, after all, ho was a cardinal. You must therefore admit that even cardinals may err. The Holy Father, in the spiritual sphere where he is supreme, and with the assent of tho Church, according to our Gallican doctrines, is endowed with infallibity ; but hw temporal Government — but the cardinals charged with the executive— the temporal counsellors of His Holiness, are essentially fallible both in public and private life. Therefore give them counsels ! You have complained that the judgment of paginal de £ernis on the Horaan administration had heen quoted, but during the la»t fifty years all the French Ambassadors at Rome, those most pious and most sincerely devoted to religion, Jaave all used the same language. Look at the long list of the glorious or illuatrious namei who have successively represented France in the Eternal City,— there is not

one who has nob passed the mo^fc formal condemnation ou the defepts of tthatt t Government. Ido not except, at tbo peridd when 'the feeling was the j strongest in favour of Rome in 1814 and 1816, our Ambassador of that day, M. Cortois do Presigny, Bishop of Orthosia,' towards whom the samo reproaches will doubtless not he made as against Cardinal do Bernis. Open youv eyes, then, a little, and look beyond tho mountains ; bo not so absolute and so peremptory ; do not »o warmly recommend the blind to persovore in tho road in which they are , foing. It is well known that the Revolution of 830 produced a considerable effect iv Italy. Several provinces of the Papal States, Romagna, the Marches, - and Umbria, rose in favour of liberty. All tho youth of Italy took part in the movement. Tho two sons of King Louis (brother of the Emperor Napoleon I.), Prince Napoleon Louis Bonaparte, who died a short time aftoi^at Forli, and his young brother Prince Louis Bonaparte, now tho Emperor Napoleon lIT., wero the first to join the insurgents and take up arms against the temporal pow er of Pope Gregory XVI. Tho French Government had adopted and proclaimed tho principle of non-intervention, "but only for its own account,' as Cosimir PeYier declared from the tribune, when questioned as to tho sense which ho meant to givo to his prinoiplo j Austria, boing set at easo by that declaration, made her army acios* the Po. Prince Jerome then resided at Rome. In his anxioty for his nephews, and not thinking that there was any possibility of tho success of tho insurrection which was about to have to struggle against Austria, and which Franco abandoned to itself, lie sent Baron de Sfcoeltiug.his private secretary, to tho young Princess. Prince Napoleon-Louis Bonaparte then wrote to his uncle, and charged Baron do Stoolting, who was returning to Rome, to deliver to Pope Gregory XVI. a letter, which is of high historical interest." Wo will couclndo our quotations by the two following letters : —

" Terni, Saturday (1831). "My dear Uncle, — T will not apeak of our ])osition hero; it is honourable. The person whom you have sent tons, M. de Stoolting, will tell you many things which will doubtless reassure you, and inako you see matters in their true light. "Ho has held out every possible temptation to induce us to return, but wo cannot do so. " I conjure you to leassnre my relative?. "Believe me, dear uncle, your most attached, " Napol/EON-Louis Bonapartp. "P.S.— I have advised M. do Stoelting to return to Homo, and have given him a letter to the Holy Father. Moderation and 1 espect for religion animate everybody. " 1 have so many things to do that 1 must beg you to excuse the bievity of my letter. lam well awaie that your affection for us induced you to send M. de Stoelting (to whom I have .spoken veiy fiankly) j and sincerely I thank you for it, dear uncle. "I trust that M. Stoelting will bring me an answer. ' To this letter was joined that which M. do Stoelting was charged to deliver to Gregory XVI. It was as follows :— "Most Holy Father, — Baron de Stoelting, who brought mo a lettor to Terni from my uncle Pi i nee JeroincdoMontfort, willinfonnyourHolinessof tlio true state of affairs hei c. He told me that your Holiness had been pained to learn that we are here in the midst of those who have revolted against the temporal power of the Court of Eome. I take the liberty to write a word to your Holiness, to lay bare my heart befoie you, and address you in language to which you are not accustomed, for I am ouro that the real state of aff.iirs is concealed from you. Since I have been in the midbt of the revolted States 1 have been able to ascertain the spirit which. animates every lieai t. All wish for laws and a national repiesentation ; they wish to be on a level with the other nations of Europe — with the spiiit of the age. " Anarchy has been feared, but it will not appear, because everybody, even to the humblest artisan, is well persuaded that men can no more be happy under the leign of anarchy than under that of despotism aud oppression. If all the Sovereign Pontiffs had been animated with the evangelical spirit \\ hicli, I have been assured, would have guided your Holiness had you been elected in tianmril tim.es, the people, less oppressed, less (differing, would not pei haps have joined, tuoso enlightened persons who, for a long time past, have looked with envious eyes on Fiance and England. Before the proclamation of Caidinal Bernetti, moie moderation was shown than at present, and although the same idea.s prevailed from Bologna to Otrjcoli, before* t\\i\t proclamation there was move e.oolncs.3. in the towns of Umbria thau at present. Ho\t they are exasperated, " Religion is everywhere respond \ the priests, and even the mon^s, jiave nqtlifng to fo<u\ »n«* — thii,g g(^«3 (in, with, OXter, ea)>»—- "w^lT N.q yoUboHu* »~ ~^ sS > aiul S°° l 1 faitn•l'i>- - .^ minders have been committed. .., people of Romania in particular are intoxicated with libeity ; they ai live this evening at Terni, and I do them this justice, that, in the cues which they are constantly raising, theie is never one against the pei son of the Chief of Religion. That is due to the chiefs, who are evciy where the most estimable of men, and who eveiy where piove their attachment to religion w ith as much force as their love for a change in the tempoial government. "The kindness of your Holiness for my family induces me to warn you, and I can assure you on my honour that the oigamzed forces which are advancing on Rome are invincible. The chiefs and the soldiei? are very excited, but they ate far from wishing to do anything dishonoinable.' I shall be too happy if your Holiness should deign to reply to me. "It is very bold in mo who am nobody to dare to write to your Holiness, but 1 hope to be able to be useful to you. There appeals to be a very decided detei mination to effect a sopaiation of the temporal from the spiritual power. But your Holiness is beloved, and the general belief is that you would be read}' to remain at Rome w ith all your riches, your Swiss Guards, and the Vatican, and to allow a Provisional Government to be formed for temporal affairs. "1 speak the truth, I swear it, and I beseech your Holiness to believe that I have no ambitious views. Myheait cannot remain insensible at the sight of the people, and of the piisoners who have come out of Civita Castellana, who aie oveiy where embraced and covered with tears of joy. Unfoituuate men ! Several of them have nearly died from joy, so wak are they, and so illtieatod have they been ; but that was not under your Holiness' Pontificate. "Nothing more remains for me but to assure your Holiness that all my efforts aio directed towards a good object. I am not aware what reports have been made to your Holiness, but I can assure you that I have heard almost all the young men, even those the least moderate, say that if Gregory XVI. renounces the temporal power, they will adore him, and would themselves become tho firmest supports of a religion purified by a gieat Pope, and which has for basis the most liberal book that exists — the Holy Gospel. "Napoleon-Louis Bonapate."

With this letter the pamphlet closes. The work, which had been long promised, was expected to be more voluminous. Probably it would not have found more readers or been more interesting. It is regretted by some that the documents from whicn extracts only arc given were not set forth in extenso. There is, however, sufficient to arrest the attention of all who take an interest in the Roman Question and are impatient for its solution.

Lancashire Courtingt— Early marriages havo a direct bearing on domestic economy ; and we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that they are far too frequent. They follow upon the peculiar condition of society among our manufacturing populations. The young women are often without the guidance and protection of parents ; then there are none of those strict conventionalities of life among them, which are found in the higher grade 1 ? of society ; they are thrown together at their Sunday schools ; at fifteen or sixteen they are often able to support themselves. So that many begin to " keep company " at the early age of fomteen, and are proud of being beaux and belles sufficiently attractive to captivate admirers. We once asked a young married woman how long she had been acquainted with her husband. " Ever since I can remember," she said. "And wereyou engaged ever since you can remember?" "Well, John and me kept company ever siuce I can think." "When did John propose to you, if it's a fair question ?" we enquired, "He never proposed at all," she answered, without any reserve ; "he kept company with no one etee, and I kept company with no one else ; so, you see, we took it for granted." This, we have learned, is a very common rationale of courtship and marriage among our young people. Not long ago we said to a youth of nineteen, who was just starting a business on his own account, "Why, I suppose, you have a wife peady to your hand," when, he < answered, in his genuine Lancashire vernacular, taking a credit to himself at the same time for his self-restraint, "Well, noa — I hanna geete agate a coorting yet." A few weeks slnoe we said to a youth after his marriage, "I suppose you have now finished your probation, and got fixed forrbotter aud worse?" "Yes, Bir," he replied good humouredly, ,," and it's, about time Ishould, for I've had about a 4 thousand miles of courting," meaning that from beginning to end he had walked bis young lady, out about that distance. — Fmw't Magmnt,