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  THE
  CATHOLIC WORLD.

  A
  MONTHLY MAGAZINE
  OF

  GENERAL LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.

  ------
  VOL. XXIII.
  APRIL, 1876, TO SEPTEMBER, 1876.
  ------

  NEW YORK:
  THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION HOUSE
  9 Warren Street.

  1876.




  CONTENTS.
                                                            PAGE

  Abroad, How we are Misrepresented,                           1
  Allies’ Formation of Christendom,                          689
  American Revolution, Catholics in,                         488
  Are You My Wife?                                  22, 186, 316
  Assisi,                                                    742
  Aude, The Valley of,                                       640

  Brownson, Dr.,                                             366

  Catholicity in the United States, Next Phase of,           577
  Catholic Church in the United States, The, 1776-1876,      434
  Catholics in the American Revolution,                      488
  Catholic Sunday and Puritan Sabbath, The,                  550
  Charitas Pirkheimer,                                       170
  Charles Carroll of Carrollton,                             537
  Chillon, The Prisoner of,                                  857
  Church and Liberty, The,                                   243

  Daughter of the Puritans, A,                                92
  De Vere’s “Thomas à Becket,”                               848
  Devout Chapel of Notre Dame de Bétharram, The,             335
  Dr. Brownson,                                              366

  Easter in St. Peter’s, Rome, 1875,                         255
  Epigraphy, Sacred,                                         270
  Eternal Years, The,                         128, 258, 402, 565

  Formation of Christendom, Allies’,                         689
  French Novel, A,                                           158
  Frenchman’s View of It, A,                                 453

  German Journalism,                                         289
  Gladstone Controversy, Sequel of,                           30

  Hammond on the Nervous System,                             388
  Hobbies and their Riders,                                  413
  Home-Rule Movement, Irish,                            500, 623
  How we are Misrepresented Abroad,                            1
  Hundred Years Ago, One,                                    802

  Irish Home-Rule Movement, The,                        500, 623
  Italian Commerce in the Middle Ages,                        79

  Journey to the Land of Milliards, A,                       773

  Kiowas and Comanches, A Day among,                         837

  Labor in Europe and America,                                59
  Land of Milliards, A Journey to the,                       773
  Letters of a Young Irishwoman to her Sister,     464, 654, 687
  Life and Works of Madame Barat, The,                       592

  Madame Barat, Life and Works of,                           592
  Miles Standish, Was He a Catholic?                         668
  Modern English Poetry,                                     213
  More, Sir Thomas,                  70, 224, 350, 517, 698, 817

  Napoleon I. and Pius VII.,                                 200
  Next Phase of Catholicity in the United States, The,       577
  Notre Dame de Bétharram, The Devout Chapel of,             335
  Notre Dame de Pitié,                                       116
  Novel, A French,                                           158

  Philosophy, Thomistic,                                     327
  Pirkheimer, Charitas,                                      170
  Pius VII. and Napoleon I.,                                 200
  Plea for our Grandmothers, A,                              421
  Poet among the Poets, A,                                    14
  Poetry, Modern English,                                    213
  Poets, Some Forgotten Catholic,                            302
  Primeval Germans,                                           47
  Prisoner of Chillon, The,                                  857
  Protestant Bishop on Confession, A,                        831
  Prussia and the Church,                                    104

  Religious Liberty in the United States, The Rise of,       721
  Rise of Religious Liberty in the United States,            721
  Root of Our Present Evils, The,                            145

  Sacred Epigraphy,                                          270
  Scanderbeg,                                                234
  Sequel of the Gladstone Controversy, A,                     30
  Sir Thomas More,                   70, 224, 350, 517, 698, 817
  Six Sunny Months,                                     606, 758
  Some Forgotten Catholic Poets,                             302
  Some Odd Ideas,                                            710
  Studio in Rome, A Quaint Old,                              781

  “Thomas à Becket,” De Vere’s,                              848
  Thomistic Philosophy,                                      327
  Transcendental Movement in New England, The,               528
  Typical Men of America, The,                               479

  Valley of the Aude, The,                                   640
  Vittoria Colonna,                                          679

  Was Miles Standish a Catholic?                             668
  Wild Rose of St. Regis, The,                               379

  Years, Eternal, The,                        128, 258, 402, 565


  POETRY.


  Ascension, The,                                            377

  Centenary of American Liberty, The,                        433
  Chorus from the “Hecuba,”                                  653
  Consuelo,                                                  816

  Forty Hours’ Devotion,                                     223

  Da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks,” Lines on,                 13

  Lamartine, From,                                           424
  Lines on Da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks,”                  13

  Mysteries,                                                 185

  Sacerdos Alter Christus,                                    58
  Sennuccio Mio,                                             233
  Sunshine,                                                  278

  Vago Angelletto che Cantanas Vai?                            7


  NEW PUBLICATIONS.

  Achsah,                                                    718
  Acolyte, The,                                              286
  All Around the Moon,                                       430
  Alzog’s Universal Church History,                          279
  Are You My Wife?                                           426
  Asperges Me, etc.,                                         430
  Authority and Anarchy,                                     288

  Breviarium Romanum,                                        288
  Brief Biographies,                                         142
  British and American Literature, Student’s Hand-book of,   138
  Board of Education, Report of,                             431
  Boston to Washington,                                      432
  Burning Questions,                                         280

  Cantata Catholica,                                         429
  Catechism for Confession and First Communion,              280
  Catholic Church and Christian State,                       425

  Daniel O’Connell, Popular Life of,                         143

  Eden of Labor, The,                                        139
  Elmwood; or, the Withered Arm,                             143
  Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland, and Ireland,    432
  Episodes of the Paris Commune in 1871,                     431
  Explanatio Psalmorum,                                      287

  Faber’s Hymns,                                             282
  Father Segneri’s Sentimenti,                               142
  Faith and Modern Thought,                                  718
  Five Lectures on the City of Ancient Rome,                 142
  Flaminia, and other Stories,                               431

  Geographical Text-Books, Mitchell’s,                       860
  German Political Leaders,                                  716
  Gertrude Mannering,                                        285
  Glories of the Sacred Heart, The,                          576

  Haydon, Benjamin Robert, The Life, Letters, and
    Table-Talk of,                                           860
  Histoire de Madame Barat,                                  425
  How to Write Letters,                                      287

  Labor, the Eden of,                                        139
  Labor and Capital in England and America,                  139
  Lectures on the City of Ancient Rome,                      142
  Life, Letters, and Table-Talk of Benjamin Robert
    Haydon, The,                                             860
  Life of Rev. Mother St. Joseph, The,                       427
  Life of Daniel O’Connell,                                  143
  Little Book of the Holy Child Jesus,                       288
  Literature for Little Folks,                               287

  Meditations and Considerations,                            719
  Men and Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago,          860
  Mitchell’s Geographical Text-Books,                        860

  Newman, Characteristics from the Writings of,              288
  New Month of the Sacred Heart,                             720
  Note to Article on Thomistic Philosophy,                   432
  Notiones Theologicæ,                                       720

  Outlines of the Religion and Philosophy of Swedenborg,     281
  Ordo Divini Officii Recitandi,                             141

  Pius IX. and his Times,                                    288
  Principia or Basis of Social Science,                      428
  Principes de la Sagesse, Les,                              287
  Publications Received,                                     288

  Revolutionary Times,                                       720

  Sancta Sophia,                                             859
  Science and Religion,                                      720
  Scholastic Almanac for 1876, The,                          144
  Segneri’s Sentimenti,                                      142
  Sermons by Fathers of the Society of Jesus,                141
  Story of a Vocation, The,                                  432
  Spectator, The,                                            144
  Spiritualism and Allied Causes,                            713
  Student’s Hand-book of British and American
    Literature, The,                                         138

  Universal Church History, Alzog’s,                         279

  Voyages dans l’Amérique Septentrionale,                    432

  Wyndham Family, The,                                       430




THE CATHOLIC WORLD.

VOL. XXIII., No. 133.—APRIL, 1876.

Copyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.




HOW WE ARE MISREPRESENTED ABROAD.


Following the example of older nations, the United States has been
accustomed to keep at foreign courts and capitals certain diplomatic
agents whose presence there seems to be considered necessary for the
protection of our national interests, as well as a pledge of mutual
friendship and comity. Under the more modest title of envoys or
ministers these gentlemen exercise the powers and enjoy the immunities
of ambassadors, and to their supposed wisdom, tact, and judgment are
entrusted all difficult negotiations and the settlement of doubtful
questions of international law.

In view of the increased facilities for communication between
independent governments afforded by railroads and telegraphs, the
general diffusion of accurate geographical and commercial knowledge,
and the almost total disuse of the secret diplomacy of former times,
it has been seriously considered whether this class of rather
expensive officials might not be dispensed with altogether. Many
persons, also, are inclined to believe that the public welfare would
suffer little, if at all, by such a measure, on the principle that bad
or incompetent representatives are worse than none. But if the custom,
as appears probable, is still to be adhered to, it is becoming more
and more apparent that the _personnel_ of our diplomatic corps must
speedily undergo a radical change for the better, if we would not
bring our country into lasting disrepute and contempt in the eyes of
all just and discerning men.

In Europe diplomacy is practically as much a profession as law or
medicine. Its students begin their allotted course at an early age in
the capacity of _attachés_ or secretaries of legation. As they gain in
experience they are moved from one court to another, in regular order
of promotion, until finally, after years of practical observation and
laborious study, they develop into accomplished diplomatists and ripe
statesmen, whose services are invaluable to their country, at home and
abroad. Not so in America; with us the post of minister resident or
envoy extraordinary, is usually the reward of some obscure partisan,
the solace of a disappointed Congressional aspirant, or the asylum in
which superannuated cabinet officers can find dignified obscurity.
Occasionally accomplished international lawyers like the late Mr.
Wheaton or Reverdy Johnson are selected, but these rare cases are in
sad contrast with the generality of persons chosen, every few years,
to represent in foreign countries the power, dignity, and intelligence
of the republic. They are almost invariably men of mediocre ability,
contracted views, and defective education; unaccustomed to any high
degree of social refinement, and sometimes ignorant of the very
language of the country to which they are accredited, while not
necessarily masters of their own. From a perusal of some volumes of
state documents[1] we are led to conclude that the principal duty of
our diplomats is to write long, prosy letters to the Secretary of
State, and to encumber the archives of his office with copious
extracts from foreign newspapers of no value or public interest
whatever. In this mass of correspondence we look in vain for the keen,
accurate criticism of men and manners, or the profound views of
statesmanship which characterized the despatches of the Venetian
ambassadors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the French
and English emissaries of a later period.

On the contrary, we find these letters exhibiting a remarkable
feebleness and crudity of mind, and, where matters relating to
religion or morals are discussed, a purblind prejudice unworthy of any
rational American, but especially reprehensible in an exalted official
of our government. This latter blemish is so prominent, and withal so
repeatedly displayed, as to be painfully suggestive of a desire on the
part of the writers to win, by unworthy means, the favor of the
appointing power at the federal capital. We also observe with regret
that they are accustomed to use, with the greatest deliberation and
upon the slightest occasion, the terms reactionist, Romanist,
ultramontane, and other nicknames—all of which are inaccurate and most
of them offensive—when describing the supporters of the Catholic
Church, who, in various parts of the Christian world, are battling for
the rights of conscience and the freedom of their religion; while
eulogistic adjectives are lavished on all parties and measures, no
matter how tyrannical or arbitrary, provided they are directed against
the church and her priesthood. Just here we may as well ask at the
start, Is there not occupation enough for our diplomatic service in
attending to the great commercial and other secular interests of the
republic, but that they must turn aside to devote their chief
attention to the cultivation and spread of anti-Catholic bigotry?

One of the most glaring examples of this indecent partisanship is to
be found in the records of our diplomatic relations with Mexico—our
nearest neighbor and the most populous of the Spanish-American
republics. Formerly the greatest care was exercised in filling this
important mission, only gentlemen of sound discretion and liberal
views being selected; but since the advent of Mr. Fish as Secretary of
State, this wise precaution has been neglected, and, as a consequence,
we have had at the Mexican capital, for several years, a deputy named
John W. Foster, whose total misapprehension of the duties of his
office is painfully apparent, even from his own reports. It will be
remembered that in 1859 the partisans of Juarez, assembled at Vera
Cruz, proclaimed war on the Catholic Church, abolished all religious
communities, confiscated their property, and expelled their members of
both sexes. They also declared marriage a civil contract, to be
entered into only before a