Among the Liberal party of the Roman CaHiolic countries of Europe the principle of a separatifoa be- tween Church and State has likewise found many ad- vocates. Ofthegreat statesmen of Europe in modem times, few have given so cordial an adhesion to the principle as count Cavoor, who, during his whole poGt- ioal career, stood up for a free Church in a fr«e state; and baron Ricasoli, whose femons letter to the Italbo bishops, dated Nov. 26, 1866, is a complete commeBtaiy on the subject, and a document which, in the Usloiy of European State-Churchism, will remain of lastiag importanoe. We give the following extnct fttm it: " The decisions adopted by tibe government arise from the desire tliat perfect lib^ty in the relations between ChuTohand State should pass from the abstract reIigi«B of principle in which it had hitiierto remained into the reality of feet. The government, therefera, desires that Italy may very soon ei^joy the magnificent and impoa- ing religious spectacle now aflbrded to the tne citisens of the United States of America by tiie National Conn- cil of Baltimore, wherein religious doctrines are freely discussed, and whose decisions, approved by tlie pope, will be prodaimed and executed in every town vod village without exeqtiaiur or pktoei. It is Uber^ wlii^ has produced this admirable spectacle; liberty, pro- fessed and respected by all^ in principle and in fiiet, in its amplest application to dvil, politiod, and social life. In the United States eveiy dtisen is f^ to follow the persuasion that he may think best, and to worship the Divinity in the form that may seem to him most ap- propriate. Side by side with the Catholic Churdi rises the Protestant temple, the Mussulman moeqoe, the Chinese pagoda. Side by side with the Bomish dergy the Genevan consistory and the Methodist as- sembly exercise their office. This state of things generatee ndther conftision nor clashing. And why is this ? Because no religion asks either special pro- tection or privileges from Uie state. Each lives, de- velops, and is followed under the protection of tlie common law, and the law, equally respected by all, guarantees to all an equal liberty. The Italian gov- emment wishes to demonstrate as fer as possible Hat ii hasfakh in UberUf^ and is deshvus of applying it to the greatest extent compatible with the interests of public order. It therefore calls upon the bisliops to return to their sees whence they were removed by those very motives of public order. It makes no con- ditions save that one incumbent upon every dtlzen who desires to live peaceably — ^namely, that he shoold confine himself to his own duty and observe the laws. The state will insure that he be neither distnrtied nor hindered ; but let him not demand privileges if be wishes no bonds. The principle of every f^ee state, that the law is equal for all, admits of no distinctions of any kind. The government would be (^ad to cast off all suspidon and abandon every precaution, and if it does not now wholly act up to this wish, it isbeosase the prindple of libeity which it has adopted and put into practice is not equally adopted and practised by the dergy. Let your lordships remark the differenoe between the condition of the Church in America and the condition of the Church in Europe. In those vir- gin regions the Church is established amid a new so- dety, but which carried with Ufnm ike mother comtrjf all the elementt ofcinl Ufe, Representing the purest and most sacred of the social elements, the reUgioss feeling which sanctions right, and sanctifies duty, and carries human aspirations fer above all earthly things, the Church has here sought only the empire pleasing to God, the empire of souls. Companion of liberty, the Church has grown beneath its shelter, and has found all that sufficed for firee development and tiie tranquil and fecund exercise of its ministiy. It has never sought to deny to others the libeKy which it enjoyed, nor t6 turn to its exdusive advantage the in-
CHURCH AND STATE 8J
stitations which protected H. In Europe, on the other hand, the Church aroee with the decadence of the great empire that had eabjagated the earth. It was oon- stitiited amid the political and social cataclysms of the barbaroos ages, and was oompelled to form an or- ganisation strong enoogfa to resist the shipwredc of all drUization amid the rising flood of bmte f6roe and ▼iolenee. Bat whUe the world, emerging from the chaos of the Middle Ages, re-entered the path of prog- ress mailed out by God, the Chnrch impressed npon all having any relation with it the immobility of the dogma intmstod to its gnardianship. It viewed with suspicioa the growth of intelligenoe and the multipli- cation of social forces, and declared itself the enemy of all Uber^, denying the first and most incontestable of all, the liberty of conscience. Hence arose the con- flict between the ecclesiastical and the civil power, since the former represented snbjection and immobil- ity, and the latter liberty and progress. The conflict, from pecoliar drcomstances, has greater proportions in Italy, becaose the Chnrch, thinldbig that a Ungdom was necessary to the independent exerdse of its spirit- ual ministry, found that kingdom in Italy. The ec- clesiastical power, from the same reason, is hero in contradiction not only with the civil power, but na- tional rifcht. The bishops cannot be considered among us as simple pastors of souls, since they are at the same time the instruments and defenders of a power St variance with tlie national aspirations. The civil power is therefore constrained to impoee those meas- nros upon the bishops which are necessary to preserve its rights and those of the nation. How is it possible to tenninate this deplorable and perilous conflict be- tween the two powen — between Church and state? Let us ' render unto Cnsar the things that are Cssar*s, snd utto God the things that are CMl's,' and peace be- tween Church and state will be troubled no more."