power of Protestantism by identifying it with Conservatism, and leaving Liberalism to work the inevitable and beneficent reforms under the name of Rationalism or infidelity.

This latter is the course which affairs have taken on the Continent, and the lesson should not be thrown away.

In France and Spain for centuries the predominant power in the Government had been the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church-the most Conservative of all Churches. Relying for their power on the retardation of human progress, except such progress as increased the power of that Church, they were resolutely opposed to all reforms in a popular direction. This was naturally the case when their power was based, not on the will of the people, but on their own assertion that it was the Divine mission of the Church to control all human affairs. It was an assertion which, being false, was sure, sooner or later, to be dispelled. We believe it to be a great principle, applicable to all Churches, and one consonant with the truest interests of religion, that no clergy shall have any other influence in 'the government of a country than that which it can exercise by its influence upon the moral and religious character of man. The laws of a country will not be the more moral, the more in accordance with Divine precept-whilst they will certainly be less in favour of popular liberty-from the fact of the clergy of any Church assisting in their formation. They will, in a country where a representative form of government exists, take their character from the moral and religious belief of the great body of the people. Here, then, is the true field for the exercise by the clergy of its influence in the government of a country; here too is ample scope for the most extended labours.

But exactly the reverse to this

was the case in France and Spain. In those countries-where from the fact of the clergy participating directly in the government, religion, itself of the most despotic type, became associated with despotic power and all its abuses, and where reforms in a popular direction were incompatible with the maintenance of power by the ecclesiastical politicians-the progress to freedom has been made, not under the banner of religion, but under the banner of free thought, rationalism, or infidelity. The result has been not alone detrimental, but disastrous to religion itself, for if despotic power was identified with religion, it was but natural that republicanism, the reverse of despotism, should come to be identified with the negation of religion.

But here in England, where a less Conservative Church was established, where the clergy of that Church were not the controlling power in the State, and did not make the same preposterous pretensions as were made by the clergy of the predominant Church in France and Spain, and where other creeds than that of the Established Church were tolerated, the party of progress was not brought into antagonism with religion, and great popular reforms have been effected without in any way damaging the cause of religion.

But if Protestantism identifies itself with Conservatism, and be comes fixed in certain stereotyped forms, its power will in the end as surely fall as the power of the Roman Catholic Church has fallen now. It is these considerations which urge us to say that Orangeism, if it values its influence, its power, indeed its existence, should not be a mere Conservatism as it has hitherto been in Ireland. Orangeism to be a power must be aggressive; not physically aggressive, as unfortunately it too often is, but morally and intellectually aggressive-aggressive against ignorance and superstition, aggres

terest foe to real Liberalism, and in doing so they have neither brought credit on themselves nor strengthened the cause. But we are fast approaching the time when a general and crucial test will be applied. A general election must soon take place. It will not be enough then to refer to past achievements; to gain the public confidence the future policy of the party will have to be clearly stated and submitted for the approval of the country. We hope that when this event takes place we shall see the Liberal party returning to Parliament purified of the leaning exhibited by some of its members to principles which are directly in antagonism to the true principles of Liberalism.

With the party thus purified lies the natural alliance of the Irish Orange party. To judge from the latest expositions of the opinions of the Irish Orangemen, their leaders do not appear to realise the great change which was effected in their position by the establishment of religious equality and the severance of the Irish from the English Established Church. Mr. Johnston, the Member for Belfast, at a meeting at Belfast of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, held in the beginning of June last, said:

I am proud to stand here as the representative of the Orangemen of Belfast, declaring that they desire not to interfere with the privileges of the House of Lords, that they desire not to see the Crown of England interfered with in its just and right prerogative, and to say that the Protestant working men of Ulster, the Orangemen of Ireland generally, and the 500,000 Orangemen of the great British Empire are determined to maintain in its integrity from their heart of hearts, and if necessary with their hands on the battlefield, the Constitution, unimpaired, uninfringed upon, uninterfered with in the Queen's Lords and Commons of England.

The object of the Liberal party is to improve, not impair, the Constitution, and even in the sense of the speaker we do not think the Constitution is likely to be impaired, either

as regards the Crown or the Commons, by English Liberalism. Any change in the other branch of the Legislature will not take place until conclusive arguments have been adduced that such change would be for the public advantage, an advantage which consequently would be participated in by the Orange party. We fail to see how the interests of that party are so bound up with the present constitution and jurisdiction of the House of Lords as to cause it to make utter shipwreck of itself in their maintenance. The interests of the Orange party are far larger, and it has other duties to perform, or fail to perform them at its peril. Those duties lie in the development and propagation of those principles of liberty which are identified, not so much with the Revolution as with the Reformation, and in working out that mental enfranchisement and amelioration wherein lies the truest welfare of a people. Holding the principles both of the Reformation and of the Revolution, Orangemen should be leaders in the progress of their country, and thus earn the unanimous approval of this great Protestant Empire. But instead of this, we have in the last few years witnessed a falling off in the prestige of Orangeism; we have noticed a growing disfavour towards it on the part of those who are its natural allies; we see, too, its own members deploring the rapid progress of a party which some years since was powerless; yet in all these adverse circumstances, the sole advice given by the leaders is the repetition of the familiar watch-words of the partythose words which rang once with soul-stirring sound through the city of Derry-'No surrender.'

This is not the advice which is needed. They should rather recollect, that even as then the triumph of their cause was not assured until defence had been turned into attack, and the arena of the strife extended from a city

to a country, so now they will not triumph until they pass from inaction into action, and in a different and wider field rival the heroic deeds of their ancestors.

There are, however, some signs that the Orange party are awakening to the sense of their real position. In some of the speeches delivered at the numerous meetings in the North of Ireland on the 12th of last July, a sort of distrust in the Conservative leaders is apparent, and Orangemen are counselled to watch both parties. In the speech, too, which we have above quoted from, there is a sentence which seems as if the speaker got a glimpse of what the true position of Orangeism should be.

I am (he says), as I have ever been, a Protestant first, and a Conservative after; and if I thought for a moment that Conservatism was inimical to Protestant progress, I would not be a member of the great Conservative party.

That Conservatism, as the word is generally understood, is inimical to Protestant progress, is a bold statement to make, and one not likely to pass unchallenged, but it is one to a belief in which we much incline.

We have set forth above some of the reasons which induce us to form such an opinion, but it is impossible in the scope of an article to do more than touch upon the question.

With the Orange party in Ireland the decision so far as they are concerned must take a practical form, and by force of circumstances they are now called on to come to some decision in the matter. They should not, however, decide hastily, for not only does the progress or decadence of their party depend on their decision, but the interests of Protestantism are also involved therein.

We believe that the Irish Orangeparty will be acting not only in its. own interest, but in the interests of Protestantism and religion generally, by ranging itself side by side with the great English Liberal party. Those dangers which the Orange party are endeavouring to avert, will best be averted by acting in union with the English Liberals; those evils which they most dread are equally disliked by the true Liberal party of this country. In the development of political events the occasion has come when the alliance between the parties can be effected. The basis for it is clear, and the future full of promise. Holding, each of them, those principles which seem to promise the realisation of the greatest amount of public good, they could, with every prospect of success, go forward together in striving to promote the noble causeof human progress and human happiness. M. OR N.

mon

that had to be met, the payments

happier times. We will sit beside the Moselle and sip our coffee; and when these miserable scenes have passed away, you will say that there is no more beautiful town than ours.'

6

These words were spoken to me a little over three years ago at Pontà-Mousson, by a tradesman of that place. For a week I had been staying there with the German armies, but the keen eyes of the French inhabitants did not fail to detach from the great mass of soldiery constantly filling and passing through the place anyone who wore no uniform or other badge of hostility. One day this tradesman had said to me, 'You seem, sir, to belong to some other country.' I explained to him that I was there as a neutral to write the history of what I should see. Ah,' he replied, it may be well we should know this. Any little turn of affairs might bring about some wild scenes in Pont-à-Mousson, and if any riot should occur you had better come to my house, and my wife and I will see that you are safe.' After this hint I watched every sign in the town, and on the day before the battle of Gravelotte observed that an enormous number of peasants from the surrounding country crowded into the place. I learned certainly, also, that this gathering was by concert, and that it was the intention of these people in case there should be a defeat and retreat of the Germans from the impending struggles near Metz to attack them furiously.

The French people, on the wayside of our march in those days, appeared to me almost affectionate to any stranger not their enemy. The Germans swarmed into their houses and shops with demands

the purchaser's ideas of value, and in forms determined by himself. At a time when very little could be got to eat, I had gained the friend ship of my tradesman by the simple device of paying him half-a-franc more for a box of sardines than he had demanded. And by investing a few francs in this way-the inhabitants were beyond caring much for the francs, but pathetically eager to detect any considerateness for their condition-I managed to secure several warm farewells like that already mentioned, with invitations to call if destiny should ever bring me that way in happier times.

These invitations and the sad faces of those who gave them I could not forget, and when the news came that the Germans had left those regions, the longing to return thither was irresistible. The country where I had witnessed such strange and terrible scenes reappeared in visions of the night, and drew me as by fascination. So again I found myself on the old track, pacing the familiar streets of villages, pausing at this point and that where Memory had raised her own monuments to good deeds done or agonies endured.

How changed now was the most brilliant of the provincial towns of France-Nancy! I had been there just after the Emperor had advanced to the front. Fresh from Paris, and from witnessing splendid victories won on theatre-boards to the music of the Marseillaise '-sung