years, and that England spends vast sums annually in fostering disloyalty and discontent in France. It is beneath notice. A more important factor in the movement we are considering is the "Civiltà Cattolica," the principal organ of the Jesuits. This Italian journal has done immense harm to the best interests of religion by the narrowness and intolerance of its views. Its bigotry, political and theological, its truculent methods of controversy, and its impatience of liberty and progress in every form are contributing much to alienate the intellectual element of Europe from the Church. It was the "Civiltà Cattolica" which, more than any other European journal, rendered possible the greatest hoax of the nineteenth century. It may be necessary to remind American readers that, a few years ago, Leo Taxil, a pretended convert to Catholicity, made revelations of Freemasonry which were so absurd that only the most rabid credulity and fanaticism could swallow them. A mythical young lady named Diana Vaughan was the medium of the exposure. Having been initiated into the secrets of the Masonic sects at an early age, and having had several interviews with the devil himself at Charleston, South Carolina, she was eminently qualified to unveil the mysteries of an organization which was devoted to the worship of his Satanic Majesty. During three years, in a series of articles which showed the hand of the keen theologian, the "Civiltà Cattolica" popularized the revelations of Leo Taxil, and proclaimed as implicit a faith in Diana Vaughan as those good men of the Delassus type who were making mementoes daily for her in their masses. Even after Diana had announced that she had been married to the devil and had found him young and handsome, the "Civiltà Cattolica" never wavered in its gullibility; Diana Vaughan's revelations were "precious publications which were unequalled for exactness and usefulness." From this it may easily be gleaned what part the Jesuit journal was prepared to play in Americanism. Men who believed that at Charleston the devil regularly appeared, horns and tail and all, and that the beautiful Southern city was "the sovereign centre of Satan worship," could easily convince themselves that America itself was the seat of any or every grotesque heresy. The "Civiltà Cattolica" has always been the enemy of democracy and of democratic institutions, and hence of America and of all the principles which America represents. Only a few years ago, in an article entitled "La Scuola dei Equivoci," and aimed at America, it proved with enthymemes of matchless cogency that the very idea of a democracy is a contradiction in terms; and in the latest issue which lies before us, it ridicules the loyalty of American Catholics to the Stars and Stripes. The fanaticism and Americophobia which we have seen at work in France and Italy were also active in Canada. In the hands of M. Jules P. Tardivel, "La Vérité" of Quebec vied with "La Vérité" of Paris in bigotry and bitterness. To M. Tardivel belongs the unique distinction of having demonstrated that Diana Vaughan was a creature of flesh and blood. At a time when every wag in Europe knew that Diana Vaughan had no existence outside the imagination of Leo Taxil, and when every man of judgment was wondering at the gullibility and fanaticism of so many Catholics, M. Tardivel assumed the rôle of detective and swooped down upon the Hôtel Mirabeau, Rue de la Paix, Paris. To obviate any possibility of deception, he took with him a friend and an official of the Civil Court of Paris. An investigation of the registry led to the discovery that Diana Vaughan had sojourned for a whole week at the hostelry, and had eaten and drunk like other people. M. Tardivel had a procès verbal drawn up at once, which, when duly signed and sealed, should convince the world that Diana Vaughan was not a simple myth. During the three years which have elapsed since his visit to the Hôtel Mirabeau, M. Tardivel has changed but little. Americanism is his new Diana Vaughan. The title of his book, which has appeared quite recently, and which contains his contributions to the literature of Americanism, is "La Situation Religieuse aux Etats Unis." M. Tardivel's chief qualification for his role of controversialist is, like that of his allies, hatred of America. The American Government, he tells us, is built upon an unsound principle (p. 129); it is the eldest daughter of Freemasonry (p. 130), and its people are atheistic in spite of the President's proclamation establishing Thanksgiving Day (p. 131). Blasphemy and other violations of God's commandments are protected by our laws (p. 133). Even the English language, "which, somewhat modernized, i. e., corrupted, is generally spoken in America, is the vehicle of materialism, for it is in English that there arises from all this vast territory the blasphemous concert in honor of the golden calf, the idol of the American people" (pp. 217 and 218). The public schools engender crime and nurture ignorance (p. 71); indeed, "the public school is an engine of hell" (p. 162). Nowhere are there so many fervent adepts of the world cursed by Christ as in the United States of North America (p. 141). The entire book is a foul and contemptible calumny on America. As one reads it, one is forced to ask, Why is it that all the men who "discovered" Americanism, and then clamored for its condemnation, are, without exception, slanderers of America? The man who has most recently made his voice heard in the one-sided controversy on Americanism is Mgr. Péchenard. He comes to bear witness to "the happy frame of mind" in which his countrymen have been put by the passing of Americanism. As might be expected, in one holding his position, his sympathies lie with the titled réfractaires, who cannot but be pleased with the orthodoxy of his article in this REVIEW. But certain it is that now, more than ever before, the friends of the University of Paris will mourn the loss of Mgr. d'Hulst, the predecessor of the present rector, who would never have suffered that great seat of learning to become the ally of men who attempted to blacken the fair name of the American Church. To this list may be added the names of three others more familiar to the public-Cardinal Mazzella, Cardinal Satolli and the Rev. David Fleming. Cardinal Mazzella, a Neapolitan Jesuit, has, since his elevation to the Sacred College, devoted his life to advancing the interests of his Order. He is the mouthpiece of the "Civiltà Cattolica" and the executive of its policy. Cardinal Satolli is well known in America as the first Apostolic Delegate to the United States. It was during his sojourn at Washington that, in some unaccountable way, he meddled in the affairs of the Catholic University, throwing the weight of his influence against the American members of the faculty, and in favor of the foreign element which was then led by Professors Schroeder and Peries. He eventually obtained from the Pope the letter demanding the resignation of Bishop Keane. Since his return to Rome, he has maintained an attitude of sullen hostility to America and everything American. Father Fleming is a Franciscan monk, and he was the friend and co-laborer of Dr. St. George Mivart. He was formerly highly respected at Rome as an exemplar of large-mindedness. Recently, however, in obedience to the edict of his Order, he has become the exponent of English reactionary views, and he is rapidly atoning by his zeal in his new cause for his theological escapades of former years. These three men engineered the condemnation of Americanism at Rome. They made M. Maignen's theses their own and led the Roman Curia to take cognizance of them. Such are the principal factors in the genesis of Americanism -the men who labored to fasten the charge of heresy upon American Catholics. They are typical representatives of a composite school of thought which is a standing menace to the peace of the Church. They execrate America with a blind fierceness that would be incredible to us did we not have ocular evidence of it, and their hatred of America is only an expression of their hatred of democracy. They are the ecclesiastical allies of all the political réactionaires of the Old World, who would fain blot out from the continent of Europe every vestige of democracy-the theological scriveners of all who chivalrously and foolishly cling to lost causes and régimes of olden days. So unreasoning is their detestation of republican institutions that M. Maignen, the leading spirit among them, openly resisted the Pope's call to the Catholics of France to rally to the Republic. M. Maignen's conduct was on that occasion so insubordinate that Mgr. Ferrata, the Papal representative at Paris, closed the doors of the embassy against him. Thus is it that these Grand Inquisitors of the American Church hate democracy more than they love the Pope. They hunted down Father Hecker because he was guilty of the unpardonable sin of believing that the future belongs to democracy, and that democracy will understand and cherish the Catholic Church. Therefore it is that Father Hecker, and they who think with him, must at all costs be branded as heretics, for a charge of heresy is always the shortest and easiest way of disposing of a man. The result of the agitation inaugurated by these men was to put before the world a body of doctrines which were utterly at variance with elementary Catholic principles, and which, if actualized, would be pernicious to the Catholic religion. Such was the furore caused by Americanism in France and Italy that, in the interests of the faith, the Sovereign Pontiff was obliged to take cognizance of the opinions labelled with that name, and to VOL. CLXX.-NO. 522. 44 condemn them wherever they might be found. This he did in the famous document addressed to Cardinal Gibbons. This letter, hailed by the enemies of America as a triumph, is in reality the only bright page in the history of Americanism. As we read it we feel that we have passed from the atmosphere of sordid strife, where men with motives live and squabble, into the august presence of one of the greatest Pontiffs of the Church. Every line of the document breathes respect for the Church in America, and of that Church no member, be he bishop, priest or layman, is censured or condemned. "Certain opinions concerning the methods of Christian life," "which are sometimes included under the name Americanism," and "which have been brought in" (by some persons not named), are false and dangerous and to be repudiated-such is the sum and substance of Leo's decision. The Pope not only carefully guards himself against imputing to American Catholics the errors sometimes included under the name Americanism, but even signifies his incredulity that such errors are held by Americans. "If, indeed, by that word (Americanism) is meant qualities of mind which distinguish the people of America as other nations are distinguished, and in so far as the expression applies to the constitution of your States and laws, there is not, assuredly, the smallest reason for us to think it should be rejected. But if it is used not only to describe but also to justify the errors we have already pointed out, what doubt can there be that our venerable brethren, the Bishops of America, will be the first to reject and condemn it as injurious to themselves and the whole nation?" And promptly came from the American Hierarchy the disavowals for which the Pope looked. The press announced from day to day that five archbishops and their suffragan bishops, representing some of the greatest Sees of America, while condemning what the Pope condemned, respectfully defended the American Church against the imputation of heresy. Americanism, they wrote, as synonymous with false doctrine, was unknown in the land. These prelates are Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore; Archbishop Williams, of Boston; Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul; Archbishop Riordan, of San Francisco, and Archbishop Kain, of St. Louis. To these may be added Archbishop Ryan, of Philadelphia, and his bishops, who informed his Holiness that scarcely any among the souls committed to their care held the false prin |