MR. GLADSTONE ON THE TEMPORAL POWER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 3, 10 May 1889, Page 17

MR. GLADSTONE ON THE TEMPORAL POWER.

are informed by a cablegram published in the daily papers that Mr. Gladstone has written an article in the Nineteenth Century dealing, apparently at large, with the Roman question, and in which he declares that the claim of the Pope to the restoration of the Temporal Power is obsolete.

This is evidently the outcome of the agitation that took place some months ago about a letter written by Mr. Gladstone to the Marquis de Riso, and which that nobleman misunderstood, and mistranslated. His mistranslation of the letter into Italian was published by a Roman paper, whence the London Tablet took the matter up and made as much as possible of it. The assertion was that Mr. Gladstone had declared in his letter that the question of th« Temporal Power was one for international arbitration, and this assertion caused a good deal of confusion among a considerable number of Mr. Gladstone's adherents and admirers both at home and abroad, by whom such an opinion was taken as a notable mark of retrogression. The opinion pleased nobody, for, while it offended Mr. Gladstone's nonCatholic friends, his Catholic friends were not prepared by any means to agree with it. Indeed this situation was probably foreseen by the London Tablet when it took over the mistranslated letter from the Roman paper and improved upon it, for we need not describe the attitude towards Mr, Gladstone of our pretentious and highly superior contemporary. The matter, however, turned out to be something like a storm in a teapot, for Mr. Gladstone had not written one word that had been attributed to him, and all that was proved was that the Marquis de Riso did not know how to read English.

Mr, Gladstone, however, it would seem, has now come out with a pronouncement that will not bring him into evil odour with his non-Catholic friends and supporters. He says the Pope's claims are obsolete, and in that they will find a due sign of progress. We do not know the line of reasoning by which Mr. Gladstone has arrived at his conclusion. Our source of information is very imperfect and narrow, and, therefore, we are at a disadvantage-. We do know, however, that Mr. Gladstone deals with the Catholic Church, an institution which possesses many attributes, and fills many situations that those who do not acknowledge her authority consider out of character with the century, and which, if everything were as they think it ought to be, should most decidedly be obsolete. Mr. Gladstone deals with a situation that has lasted not yet quite twenty years, and which affects an institution that was old when all that is oldest in Europe was still in the future only. We have heard it acknowledged here within the last week or two that the Church, which does not change or alter her dogmas and practices, keeps ahead of the age, and attracts and retains multitudes of adherents, while institutions that pretend to belong to a greater enlightenment, languish and are deserted. Nothing that appertains to the Catholic Church, and enters into her system can become obsolete. Such is the lesson that history, as well as religion, teaches us, and, therefore, when Mr. Gladstone makes a contrary assertion he talks at random, and contradicts the experience of mankind.

But we have lately seen tokens that clearly go to prove that, even jn the natural sequence of events, the Temporal

Power cannot be looked upon as obsolete. When, for example, the other day in Borne, the misery of the people culminated in riots, priests and members of the religious orders passed up and down among the excited crowds unassailed, and even cries were heard demanding the restoration of the former state of things. The masses in Italy, which still remain Catholic, begin bitterly to feel the falsehood and vain pretences of the new Government, by whose necessities they are oppressed and famine-stricken, and the future lies with the people. But if the future of Italy lies with a Catholic people, the restoration of the Temporal Power is assured. How, then, can the claims of the Pope be obsolete ?

Meantime, as to the manner in which Mr. Gladstone's Catholic supporters and admirers are to be affected by this opinion he has published, — and th« probabilities are that the London Tablet, in the affair of the Marquis de Biso, meant to place them in an awkward position — we do not see that they need be at all troubled by it . They already knew that Mr. Gladstone differed from them materially as to religious questions. But that did not hinder their admiration for him and their confidence in him on points on which they were able to agree with him and to accept his guidance. Mr. Gladstone's supporters and admirers do not look to him, or to any other English statesman to restore the Temporal Power to the Papacy. If this depended upon him, perhaps their allegiance to the Church would call upon them to adopt a different attitude towards him, and they would do so. But the Church of God, as they know,is in the hands of God, and He will find instruments to work out the ends He has in view for her. If England is to be instrumental in the restoration of the Temporal Power, it will only be as the consequence of some great European convulsion, when such a step will be found necessary for the establishment of permanent peace, and who the particular Statesman is to cany out the necessary measures will be a matter of comparative indifference. The situation will provide for itself.

Mr. Gladstone's argument, therefore, may be taken for what it is worth. It belongs to an aspect of his mind and character, with which Catholics are only so far concerned as to regret that one who is so good, so noble, and so enlightened on other points, should be in error. Their duty is to pray that Mr. Gladstone may live to be undeceived, and to see beyond all reach of doubt and from existing facts that the claims of the Pope are real and valid, and far removed from being obsolete, as he now falsely argues.