On the 17th of March, 1864, the Holy Father insisted to the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons, that the will of the Holy See should be adhered to, in the settlement of the liturgical strife that had been fomented in that diocese.* On the 30th of July, he again reprobates and condemns the acts of the Russian government in its tyrannical ferocity towards the Catholics of Poland;† and on the 18th of October, in a letter to the Emperor of Mexico, expresses his disappointment and displeasure at the iniquitous manner in which that monarch had inaugurated his reign by the confiscation of Church property. Finally, in the Allocution, "Cura et solicitudo," of March 27th, 1865, he renews his lamentations over the sad state of affairs in Mexico.

Add to this superficial catalogue of discourses and documents emanating from Pius IX., insisting upon the exercise of his supreme prerogative over all Christian Churches throughout the globe, the private exhortations and instructions, the affectionate remonstrances, of so gentle and mild a man, and what an aggregate in the space of one Pontificate! Add, moreover, the eloquence of the supernatural silence of this truly Holy Father, wherever speech might have aggravated instead of subduing the spirit of self among his forward children; the waywardness he has wisely refrained from reproving; the partially tainted books he has thought it more prudent not to put upon the Index; the decrees of his predecessors he has mercifully left in abeyance; the semi-hostile or inerudite periodicals, newspapers, ephemeral literary productions, he has given over to the devouring tooth of time, but has not doomed to destruction by a word of his mouth as Christ's infallible Vicar; the cockle, in a word, which he has left untouched, lest, by plucking it up, he should destroy the wheat also; and what a volume would be required to make the significance of his reign comprehensible. Yet the essential principle of the Pontificate

"Non me diceri."

+ Epistola, "Ubi Urbaniano."

Pius VI., in the Brief, "Quòd aliquantùm," addressed on the 10th March, 1790, to the Archbishop of Aix, and other archbishops and bishops in the National Assembly of France, assigns as a reason for the tardiest possible intervention against the irreligious and schismatics of that period :— "We had at first resolved to keep silence, lest the voice of truth in the ears of these inconsiderate men might provoke them to rush forwards to even greater destruction. This our purpose was supported by the authority of S. Gregory the Great, who declared that it was necessary 'to weigh with prudence the critical circumstances of the times, and not to allow the tongue to expend itself in useless discourse, on occasions where it should be restrained,

following the example of Susanna, who, as S. Ambrose says, accomplished more by her silence than she could have effected by words.""

of Pius IX. is identical with that contained in the Apostolic Headship of each of the Popes who has preceded him ;maintenance and vindication of the purity of the faith and traditions, exclusively handed down in the Roman Church, under the never-failing guidance and enlightenment of the Holy Ghost. "It is the duty of the Pope," says the late Archbishop Kenrick, "to watch over the entire kingdom of Christ, from the high tower on which he is placed as sentinel, and to sound the alarm when the enemy approaches."* When, from the generations of eternity, we shall be able to look back upon the warfare of the successors of S. Peter against sin and the world, how awfully sublime it will appear! Thirty-three of their number have perished as martyrs. Forty-five are worshipped as Saints upon our altars. A large portion have been in "prison frequently; in journeys often; in perils of rivers; in perils of robbers; in perils from their own nation; in perils from the Gentiles; in perils in the city; in perils in the wilderness;" worst of all, "in perils from false brethren." Few but have shared some part in the passion of their Divine Master. Many have been able to say: "No man stood with me, but all forsook me; but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me." Blessed will those be of whom the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth shall have said, that in the hour of his need they "stood with him," and did not forsake him.

It follows from the above, that the adequate "defence of our august religion," called for by Pius IX. on his accession to the Pontificate, and undertaken, he says, "by many,"-by some in a manner to elicit his especially favourable notice, and, in the instance of the Civiltà Cattolica, to secure for that journal extraordinary privileges,-requires learned and erudite champions; whose hearts and intelligences overflow with supernatural love for Roman faith, Roman tradition, Roman practice; who affectionately receive their religious impulses from the living Roman Church.

The infallibility of Rome is (we confidently affirm) immediately revealed by God, and definable as a dogma of the Faith. It has been repeatedly proclaimed by overwhelming majorities of the Universal Episcopate; it underlies the decisions of every Council; it is a part of the sensus communis of Catholic people of every period; against which no Father, Doctor, or Saint ever revolted; and which it is the especial duty of every one who would fight for Christ's Church to defend. Heresies have called forth more or less solemn dogmatical decrees condemn

* "Primacy of the Apostolic See." Ed. New York: 1848, p. 151.

ing them, and manifesting portions of the Creed of the Church; but these, though of faith, are not the Faith; just as the contradictories of innumerable condemned propositions are true, but are not the whole of truth.

The aggregate of all the traditions of the Apostolic Roman Church, as illumined by the ever-present Spirit of God, is the unwritten common law of faith. "Vetus et perpetua traditio" must, Benedict XIV. shows,* take precedence of every other authority. Tender attachment to Roman tradition. is the groundwork of practical Christianity, and defence of it is the defence of the religion of Jesus Christ. Those who wage war in its behalf, and against its enemies, must, however, expect no reward in this world, besides that of a good conscience. The sign of truthfulness to the Christian vocation is summed up in the words: "You shall be hated of all men for My sake.""Men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake." When pastors of the fold become its ravagers, then alone are they greeted, by those outside, with respect and admiration. How extolled were Jansenius, Baius, Quesnel, Arnaud, and their associate labourers! With what rapture the free-thinking world of the last century greeted the anti-Roman decrees of Joseph II., Charles III. and Louis XV.! What toleration is manifested towards the most abject superstitions of the Greek and Nestorian Churches, because they are divided from the Holy See! What a model of learning and greatness the priest Gioberti became, so soon as he attacked the prerogatives of the Holy Father! Poor Lammenais! How hated while a champion, how sought after when an enemy of Rome! So, in this day, all who sneer at Roman theology, and seek to bring the traditions of Rome and the consistency of the successors of S. Peter into contempt, are regarded by the enemies of the Church as their allies; from whom they have everything to hope and nothing to fear. They are not of those who can "rejoice" at suffering "persecution for justice sake." But no Roman Catholic Christian, whose heart throbs with supernatural desire to fulfil the precept: "Preach ye the gospel to every creature," can hope for the smiles of the world, or for earthly protection from its fury.

From what has been said may be gathered why the distinction of founding the new college of religious writers has been conferred upon the Jesuits. They have been chosen by Pius IX. on account of their learning, wisdom, and piety; their devotion, in common with all good Catholics, to the Holy

* De Festis, et passim.

Apostolic See; but also because of their indifference to everything else, as compared with the interests of Christ's Church. The Church to them is father, mother, sister, home, and country. They esteem all things, even their own lives, as of no account, in the fulfilment of their vocation. The blood of their martyrs has sanctified every known land on the face of the earth. Their confessors have been innumerable. There is not a science or branch of useful learning that has not been enriched by their labours. The number of their authors has been over thirteen thousand in three centuries. There is no conceivable charity or work of benevolence they have not fostered. Their care of the poor, sick, suffering, incarcerated, has made them the idols of the people wherever they have been, until long exile has caused their good deeds to be forgotten, and slander has created for them a character the opposite of their own. Their vilest enemies have been compelled to bear testimony to the irreproachable purity and humility of their lives. They have received the praises of every sovereign Pontiff, including the Pope who suppressed the order, since the foundation of their society by S. Ignatius Loyola. During the last century they were smitten down by one of the most fiendish conspiracies ever devised among men. It was necessary, the Encyclopædists had written, to "destroy the dogs before the sheep could be attacked." They sank out of existence without a murmur, blessing the hand that destroyed them. God permits them to be hated, calumniated, persecuted, despised; to be driven from country to country, and from city to city; to suffer death by fire, water, the knife, torture, and the rope ;-they have chosen to be of the SOCIETY OF JESUS, and to drink of the cup that He drank of. But the Almighty hand upholds them, and their zeal is never so burning, their charity never so fervent, as when the dangers and tribulations that surround them are the greatest. It is to this body of men that Pius IX. has committed the care of "perpetuating for ever" the Civiltà Cattolica.

433

ART. VI.-CROMWELL'S CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND.

The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland. By JOHN P. PRENDERGAST, Esq. London: Longmans.

IN the DUBLIN REVIEW of January we commenced an account of the Irish wars and administration of Oliver Cromwell, suggested by the excellent and exhaustive work of Mr. Prendergast on the Cromwellian settlement, with a view also of testing the gross and unscrupulous account given by Mr. Carlyle of Cromwell's policy and conduct in Ireland. Our first article, after a rapid survey of the circumstances attending the appointment of the Parliamentary Lord Lieutenant and his arrival, of the state of Ireland at the time, the policy and position of Ormond, of the Catholic Confederates, of the Ulster Irish and the Scotch of the Plantation, described in detail the first great act of the war, the siege and sack of Drogheda. To-day we resume the narrative of Cromwell's military operations, both in Ulster and Munster, in the weeks that intervened before the interruption of the war by winter. In a third article we hope to conclude the history of the war and to describe the system and establishment of the settlement.

IT

T was on the 11th of September that Drogheda fell. The sudden shock and the atrocious ferocity of that event spread terror to the uttermost ends of the island. Ormond had compared it to the massacre of Amboyna. Owen Roe said that the soldiers who did such a deed would sack hell itself. The Royalist troops in the neighbourhood were panicstricken. Ormond, on the news reaching him, ordered the garrisons of Trim and Dundalk at once to evacuate and to burn those places. They were occupied by some battalions of the Ulster Scotch, whom Lord Ardes had sent forward in advance of the army, but who were now only too eager to return to their homesteads by the Laggan. They would not even take time to put the torch to the towns, and in Trim left their cannon behind them.

Cromwell did not pause to push his advantage. On the night of the 12th he dispatched Colonel Chidley Coote with VOL. VII.—NO. XIV. [New Series.]

2 F