MISCELLANEOUS. SARDINIA AND THE POPE. [From the Britannia, Jan. 25]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 545, 5 July 1851, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS. SARDINIA AND THE POPE. [From the Britannia, Jan. 25]

Ouu inHular pride too often levolts in llioidca of accepting Continental Slalt'H iih our oxnmplos lor good, or out- Ikjucoiis to warn uh fiom intldon rocks in the appnrentljr smooth wilier of politiciil pio>;ross. Our religious prulo iiiituuilly inoroasud out dis talc to uccnpt nominally Uoimmisl Status an ourcxiimplurs niiuligioiis action: and yet, in tlio cuao oi'the proseut opon quarrel

between Mip Pope mid llio Satdmmn Govoniment, so < cl >«ely doestho conlt'Hl i csemb'e our cu \~j urtionnl dispute bulwo-n llciuyJl. mill lU'c'a'l, n:ul so |>i willy bare re( "lit events awnlioiu'il ow attonl'on io the conduct of II'O I 'ope town ds independent States, t'if't, but it politically iinil religiously, the quairel between tlm Pope mill the Piediuonteso lias bncomo of inttji-o'jt and jimpoi(hiipp to Ftiglish Piotestants. Previous to llt tB, th<-i» existed in Sardinia, wclesiiißLiCfil privjlitgns, by which i»!l ecclfiinslira weit> lemovcl liom the power of tlm civil find crmunnl tnbimuls of tlie country, .u>d loft to bo tii-d by judges of their own, ami (lie nglit of buuctuary permitted to churchcH, convents, nnd other ecclesiastical buildings, At the tune whon, in I JHB, Charles Albert gave equal rights ot juMicn to all bis subjects, the. Pope hi bis own city abolished all exceptional jurisdictions. .So opportune, ft moment «ns eiigetly seized by the Sardinians to induce (bo l'o,)« to rosigu tbo exceptional rights in their country, as lio had (lone in Romp. The auoccssor of St. Pet«r refu»ed, and tbo rcßiilt was Unit the Sardinian Parliament determined to legislate proptio viifoie on tbe disputed points, and to pl.ioe thoir State on tbe same footing witli rospeot to ilotno and tbo chirpy as bad boon before dono by Frunoc, AuHtria, und otber Koman Catbolic Stales. My lai go majorities in both liouroh of lcgislatiot!, tbe Sico.mli laws woro passed, und by them all civil hints wero made tiiablo by tbo civil courtH alone, the tleigy, bioupbt under tbe same ciiminal laws as thu 1/uty, and tbo right of sanctuary for over abolished. 'Jo tbeso national laws tbo Archbishop of Turin nt once commenced ft decided opposition. Not only did lip oidor hih Huhoidmata clergy to declare that it waa bit hn leave that tliey appeared before tbo Poyul Courts but bo openly cucululod o))inioii3 tliat whoover bud aided in passing t.'io laws was by that act excommunicated, an I capable of being absolved from co heinous a sin agmnst the Cliuich by tho Pope 'done. To the latter opinions ho soon gave practical olioct. The J'lime-nnni.ster, Santa Rosa, lay on his death bed. When ho cuivod of hia priest the last rights of his Church, they woro refused unless ho abjured his shftro in the passing of tho Siccaidi Lawß. It was in vain that the dying man piotested the conscientiousness, of his acts, and Ins desire to do good to his Church. Twice tho required retraction was uttered and refused by the Aroh-pncst of Milan, and at last, Santa Hosa died " tinliousek'd.iinaiionited, unaneld." His burial inholy ground was at last permitted by tho vory mnn who had bo long refused his nsßonl to tbe administration of the Sacrninc-nt of tbe dying. Between the Government and tho Priesthood had now been raided a question of national importance. If a sorvnnt of tho Crown waa to be reßponsiblo to Ins priest nnd not to hia sovereign or his country for his political acts, there were henceforth as many kings (ig bishops in Sardinia. It was needful to try the quostion. An information was filed against the Archbishop boforo the highest court in the kingdom, and tho result, after mature deliberation, was tho sequestration of Monsignor Fmnsoni's goods and chattels, and his immediate removal from Saidnnan land. Almost at tho samo time the Court of the ibland of Sardinia, for a similar opposition to national laws, removed tho Archbishop of Caghari, and whilst Ho of Turin retired to France, lie of Cagliari retreated to Civita Vecchia, there to be consoled by a lachrymose pastoral from his friend the Popo in which tbe putienco of tho Priest and tho brutality of his persecutors wero duly dressed up according to Papal preset iption. By si legal piocess as simplo as it waß just, the Sardinians are freo ol those that troubled them, and yet not n whit shaken in that individual piety nnd national levcrence. for tho creed of St. Peter for which they bare been again nnd again held up ns mirrors of llomnn Catholic purity. Tho parallelism of this resistance to our own position towards tho mock Cardinal Archbishop and his weak master, has not escaped tho eyo of somo hading polilicans. Not only have the. d.uly journals repeated the facts, and one of tho ablest of tho Qunrteilies drawn them out in close and effective air.iy ; but a subscription has been commenced in England in aid of tho movement about to be laised in commemoration of tho Siccaidi Laws in Turin,* and men of strong religious feeling nnd every sltndeofpolifics have already freely placed I hoir names on itsuubscnption list. The Siccardi Laws and Santa Rosa persecution ought not to bo nmnstructive to Englishmen, whether L'lotestant or Romanist. * The Pope and the Fkdmnnlnsc: two Letters U> the Ydiior o/ i/ie '* ])mh) News," in favoui of a subscrtplicn to the Sacardi movement. By JJ. W. Trecland, K&q. London: Itidyway, lb\'>].