GERMANY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 75, 3 October 1874, Page 14

GERMANY.

(From the Berlin Correspondent of the Tabmtt.) t» „ . Berlin, June 20th, 1874. Pbttssian politics may be summed up under two heads-oppression of the Church and plotting against the peace of Europe. As regards the first head, welwye witnessed deeds worthy of Julian the Apostate, but !! n w 7°? fu "y comprehend the idea of Bismarck in forcing his Cultur-Kampf on the Church, we must regard it as on attempt at a aoryile mutation of Kussia in her treatment of unhappy Poland. His system is the counterpart of hers, in all Bare one particular. He ha» not as yet discovered a Prussian Siberia. Bismarck'a tal— : in statecratt has been successful hitherto in making it believed tl. -c Dollinffer and the men of science were the originators of the •• Old-Catholic " movement. It was not bo, however ; the conception was Prince Bismarck s own. His idea was a National Church, with the Protestant oXZtn BTn8 Tn Head ; V?* Well at firßt ' but ifc ™™lv! out with tow much haste and too little caution. A venal press, antiChurch laws enacted, Bishops, priests, and laymen harassed, fined and i imprisoned, the thing went on too fast for popular feelings ; a reaction I has been produced, and the general result has been far from favorable | to the designs of Bismarck or to Prussian popularity throu"hout Ger- ! many, now that it is so closely discerned that Prussian statesmen are little else than the subservient tools of the ambitious Chancellor. On the other hand, his outrages against the Church have cast a dark shadow over the foreign policy of Prussia. It seems iniDOssible toexpect that; policy to prove either honest or honorable. Prussia is the secret favorer of revolution everywhere. She is a conspirator against the peace of Europe for the sake of her own aggrandisement. It is * remarkable fact that we find meu who f»ere amongst the rebels of 184S—men certainly of intellectual attainments— now holdiu» posts of power and emolument under Prusswn Government. Prussia's first rise was by revolution; she is still the determined opponent of the principles of legitimacy, and therefore of the Catholio Church. A new step which she has taken in the promotion of the " CJuUur-Kampf " is •! er 'Foment of the Cathedral Chapters of Posen and Gnesen, whose Archbishop Ledochowski, is afc present her prisoner. Those Chaptershave been served with a ukase from Bismarck, commanding them toelect immediately a successor to their lawful superior. The two Chapters have manfully made answer that Count Ledochowski is and must remain their Archbishop by the law of the Church and by divine ordinance, and that neither the clergy nor laity of the two Dioceses can recognize his deposition by the mandate of the State. They must they added, obey God rather than man. Upon this, in right Prussian.' fashion, the Government has appointed two administrators, both Protesiants, one for Posen, the other for Gnesen. The principles of these two functionaries are, it need hardly be said, a firm belief in Bismarck and in the eternal duration of the German Empire, and in little else. What would Englishmen say if they saw a Protestant Bishop deposed for denying Papal Infallibility and his See given over to be administered by an " Ultramontane ? "